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Topic
Federal reserve
23 guides in Finabase Learn
- Dot Plot The Fed chart showing where each FOMC participant expects the federal funds rate to be at the end of coming years.
- Federal funds rate The overnight rate at which US banks lend reserves to each other; the Federal Reserve sets a target range for it.
- Federal funds rate: target range, IORB and the effective rate What the fed funds rate is, how the Fed keeps it inside a 25 bp target range with IORB, reverse repos and standing repos, and how it is measured each day.
- Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) The Federal Reserve committee that votes on interest-rate policy at eight scheduled meetings a year.
- Federal Reserve The central bank of the United States, which sets monetary policy, supervises banks and aims for maximum employment and stable prices.
- Fiscal vs monetary policy: who controls which lever How fiscal policy (taxes, spending, borrowing) and monetary policy (the Fed’s rates and balance sheet) differ, how they interact, and what 2020–2026 shows.
- FOMC meetings: schedule, statement, minutes and how to read them What happens at the Fed’s eight yearly FOMC meetings, the 2:00 p.m. statement, press conference and minutes, and every rate step from 2008 to 2026.
- Hawkish and dovish Shorthand for central bank stances: hawks favor higher rates to fight inflation, doves favor lower rates to support jobs.
- How Fed decisions move markets: expectations, surprises and yields Why markets react to Fed surprises rather than decisions, how fed funds futures and the 2-year yield price the rate path, and what 2015–2026 data show.
- How interest rates affect stocks: discount rates and equity duration Why higher interest rates tend to lower stock prices, why growth stocks feel it most, and what yields, QQQ, SPY and value stocks did from 2021 to 2026.
- Industrial production and capacity utilization: the Fed’s G.17 What the Federal Reserve’s industrial production index and capacity utilization rate measure, how they are calculated, how to read them, and what 60 years of data show.
- Inflation: what it is, how it’s measured and what it does to money What inflation is, what causes it, how CPI and PCE measure it, why the Fed aims for 2%, and how rising prices affect cash, bonds and stocks, with 1948–2026 data.
- Monetary policy A central bank's management of interest rates and the money supply to control inflation and support employment.
- Money supply and M2: what it measures and what it tells you What M1 and M2 include, how banks and the Fed change the money supply, the velocity arithmetic, and what M2 and CPI did from the 1960s through 2026.
- PCE inflation: the Fed’s preferred gauge vs the CPI What the PCE price index measures, why the Fed’s 2% goal uses it instead of the CPI, the formula, weight and scope differences, and how the two gauges compare since 2015.
- Quantitative easing and tightening: the Fed’s balance sheet How QE and QT work, every round from 2008 to 2025 with dates and amounts, the Fed’s $0.9 trillion to $9 trillion balance sheet, and what it means for markets.
- Stagflation: high inflation, weak growth and the 1970s lesson What stagflation is, how the 1970s combined double-digit inflation with rising unemployment, why it is hard on stocks and bonds, and how to tell it apart from 2022.
- The 2008 financial crisis: housing, Lehman, TARP and the 57% fall How the US housing bust became a global banking crisis, what happened around Lehman’s failure, how TARP and the Fed responded, and how the S&P 500 fell 57% in 2007–09.
- The 2022 bear market: inflation, Fed hikes and falling bonds Why stocks and bonds fell together in 2022, how the Fed’s fastest hikes in decades drove a 25% S&P 500 decline, and what SPY, QQQ and TLT data show.
- The COVID crash of 2020: the fastest bear market and recovery How the S&P 500 fell 34% in 33 days in February–March 2020, the four circuit-breaker halts, the Fed and CARES Act response, and the record set by August 2020.
- The crash of 1929: causes, the 1929–32 decline and lessons What happened in the October 1929 crash, how the Dow fell 89% by July 1932, why policy made it worse, and the market rules the 1930s left behind.
- The Fed dot plot: how to read the FOMC’s rate projections What each dot in the Fed’s dot plot means, how the median and central tendency are built, what the September 2026 projections showed, and why dots are not promises.
- The Federal Reserve: structure, mandate and policy tools How the Fed is organized, what its dual mandate means, the tools it uses to set interest rates, and seven decades of the fed funds rate in one chart.
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