Wednesday, July 15, 2020

The Level Of The Real Fed Funds Rate And Its Importance

On January 9, 2017 I wrote a post titled “Low Interest Rates And The Formation Of Asset Bubbles.“  As discussed in that post – and for other reasons – the level of the Fed Funds rate – and whether its level is appropriate – has vast importance and far-reaching consequences with regard to many aspects of the economy and financial system.
Along these lines, below is an updated long-term chart indicating the Real Fed Funds Rate [FRED FEDFUNDS – CPIAUCSL] , with a last value of -.62947 through June 2020. Of particular note is the post-2000 persistently negative Real Fed Funds rate:
Real Fed Funds rate
source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (US), Effective Federal Funds Rate [FEDFUNDS], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; accessed July 15, 2020: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FEDFUNDS
source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index: All Items in U.S. City Average, All Urban Consumers [CPIAUCSL], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; accessed July 15, 2020: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIAUCSL
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The Special Note summarizes my overall thoughts about our economic situation
SPX at 3227.95 as this post is written

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