Reserve Split Between Optimism & Caution for Economy
The Federal Reserve released its March 15 meeting minutes Tuesday.
The minutes’ official name is “Fed Minutes”. It’s a periodic publication, published 3 weeks after each meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. The FOMC meets 8 times annually, so the Fed Minutes is published 8 times annually, too.
The Fed Minutes are similar to the meeting minutes released after a condo board gets together, or after a meeting of the Board of Directors at a large corporation. The minutes give a detailed account of the important conversations and debates that occurred among the attendees.
At the Federal Reserve, those conversations are deep and, as such, the minutes are long; much longer than the more well-known, post-meeting press release anyway. If you want to read, make sure you love reading!
Whereas the press release is measured in paragraphs, the minutes are measured in pages.
Here’s a Look at What the Fed Discussed Last Month:
- On inflation : Pressures are rising, but largely because of food costs and oil costs.
- On housing : The market remains “depressed” with large inventory and weak demand.
- On stimulus : The Fed will keep its $600 billion bond plan in place.
In addition, there was talk about ending the Federal Reserve’s accommodative monetary policy (i.e. the near-zero percent Fed Funds Rate). The FOMC’s voting members unanimously elected to leave the Fed Funds Rate near 0.000 percent last month, but there was talk of raising the benchmark rate later this year.
Conforming and FHA mortgage rates in Iowa are mostly unchanged since the Fed Minutes release, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them increase over the next few days. If you’re currently considering buying or refinancing a house, I love to help my readers with their mortgage financing. Feel free to reach out to me at the number on the right hand side of this page, or you can email me at Tyler (at) TylerOsbyTeam (DOT) com (Yes, I know it’s goofy — but it’s to avoid the spam robots online!).
