The Federal Reserve is looking to lift the veil a bit more on how it plans to steer the U.S. economy back to health.
Policymakers this month considered a range of economic yardsticks that could be used to help set interest rates and at the same time give financial markets and investors a clear steer on what lies ahead.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and other officials even conducted an experiment involving their economic forecasts that could shine a brighter light on the direction of policy, according to minutes of the July 31-August 1 meeting, which were released on Wednesday.
They plan to experiment again next month.
The sharper focus on better ways to communicate reflects the central bank's dwindling conventional options, such as interest rates, which are already near zero, to revive U.S. economic growth.
Even the efficacy of the large-scale asset purchases, known as quantitative easing, is running low, economists say.
Any actual changes to the way the Fed communicates were put off, and there was little clarity in the minutes on exactly what shape they might take.
But economists said helpful, if esoteric, changes appear to be coming, once the Fed's top officials can settle their differences and reach a delicate agreement on just how to do it.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/24/us-usa-fed-idUSBRE87N10L20120824
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