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Report
Settlement delays in the money market
We track 38,000 money market trades from execution to delivery and return to provide a first empirical analysis of settlement delays in financial markets. In line with predictions from recent models showing that financial claims are settled strategically, we document a tendency by lenders to delay delivery of loaned funds until the afternoon hours. We find that banks follow a simple strategy to manage the risk of account overdrafts - delaying the settlement of large payments relative to that of small payments. More sophisticated strategies, such as increasing settlement delays when own liquid ...
Journal Article
Trends in federal funds rate volatility
The behavior of the fed funds rate-a key monetary policy target and a benchmark for short-term interest rates-is closely watched by many market participants. After a decade marked by periodic bouts of high volatility in the funds rate, volatility has declined sharply since 2001. An analysis of the major factors influencing the rate's behavior shows that some of the forces behind the current fall in volatility first emerged in response to the earlier increases.
Journal Article
Highlights of domestic open market operations during 1998
The Trading Desk at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York uses open market operations to implement the policy directives of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). The FOMC expresses its short-term objective for open market operations as a target level for the federal funds rate--the interest rate at which depository institutions lend balances at the Federal Reserve to other depository institutions. To keep the federal funds rate near the level specified by the FOMC, the Desk uses open market operations to bring the supply of balances at the Federal Reserve into line with the demand for ...
Journal Article
Monetary policy and open market operations during 1994
Report
Money market integration
We use transaction-level data and detailed modeling of the high-frequency behavior of federal funds-Eurodollar yield spreads to provide evidence of strong integration between the federal funds and Eurodollar markets, the two core components of the dollar money market. Our results contrast with previous research indicating that these two markets are segmented, showing them to be well integrated even at high (intraday) frequency. We document several patterns in the behavior of federal funds-Eurodollar spreads, including liquidity effects from trading volume on yield spreads' volatility. Our ...
Journal Article
Falling reserve balances and the federal funds rate
The growth of "sweeps"--a banking practice in which depository institutions shift funds out of customer accounts subject to reserve requirements--has reduced the required balances held by banks in their accounts at the Federal Reserve. This development could lead to greater volatility in the federal funds rate as banks try to manage their accounts with very low balances. An analysis of the evidence suggests that the volatility of the funds rate is rising slightly, but not enough to disrupt the federal funds market or affect the implementation of monetary policy.