美联储货币政策与回购操作

该文在分析美国回购市场的基础上,对美联储回购／逆回购货币政策工具进行了详细分析。2008年金融危机以前,回购和逆回购仅是美联储临时性政策工具,总体交易规模很小。实证结果表明,金融危机后国债隔夜回购的市场交易利率能预测美联储国债隔夜回购利率变动,且美联储的国债隔夜回购利率相对更高。2013年8月,美联储推出隔夜固定利率全额（给定额度内）供应逆回购工具,为将来美联储退出QE过程做准备。2013年最后两个交易日,该工具操作规模分别约为1000亿美元和2000亿美元,引发市场关注。     

A note on discount rate policy and the variability of discount window borrowing

The purpose of this note is to evaluate the appropriate discount rate policy rules consistent with minimization of the variability of borrowing at the Federal Reserve discount window. In the context of Goodfriend's (1983) model of the bank borrowing decision, it is demonstrated that either a penalty rate or a subsidy rate policy will produce minimized variability of borrowing, so long as the subsidy rate adjusts point for point to changes in the value of the Federal funds rate. These policy rules are compatible with a policy procedure designed to target borrowed or non-borrowed reserves. If the Fed does not adhere to one of these specific rules, minimization of borrowing variability requires an open market procedure in which the Fed pegs the Federal funds rate.     

A Micro Model of the Federal Funds Market

This paper demonstrates that valuable insights into the determination of Federal funds rates can be gained through modeling the micro-decisions of market participants. Fed fund demand functions are derived for different bank valuation functions and several implications are discussed. Specifically, it is: (i) possible to rationalize the observation that large banks are net purchasers and small banks net sellers of Fed funds; (ii) to explain the positive spread of Fed funds rates over other short-term money market rates; and (iii) to link the size of this spread to the Federal Reserve's underlying monetary policy strategy.     

EFFECT OF FEDERAL RESERVE POLICIES ON BANK EQUITY RETURNS

We investigate the reaction of bank equity returns to changes in the relevant Federal Reserve (Fed) policy tool, which is the federal funds rate during periods of interest rate targeting and the discount rate during periods of reserves targeting. Three policy periods from 1974 to 1996 are investigated. We find that bank equity returns are inversely related to changes in the relevant Fed policy tool and that the degree of sensitivity of bank equity returns is conditioned on the direction of the change in the Fed policy tool. Also, we find that values of larger commercial banks and low‐capital‐ratio commercial banks are more exposed to changes in the relevant Fed policy tool. JEL classification: G11, G12, G14.     

Interest on bank reserves and optimal sweeping

A key rationale offered by the Federal Reserve for the payment of interest on reserves was to remove the incentive for banks to operate sweep accounts. Sweeping shifts funds from transactions deposits subject to reserve requirements to non-reservable deposits. This paper extends a conventional banking model to analyze sweeping behavior. Sweeping responds positively to increases in bank loan rates and reserve ratios and negatively to increases in the interest rate on reserves or exogenous increases in bank equity. Sweeping generates greater responsiveness in lending to changes in loan rates or the interest rate on reserves and lower responsiveness to changes in reserve ratios or equity than in its absence. Empirical analysis of an explicit condition that we derive suggests that, with an unchanged reserve requirement, the Fed could eliminate sweeping by setting the interest rate on reserves to no less than approximately 4% points below the market loan rate.     

The characteristics and development of the Swiss franc repurchase agreement market

With the reinterpretation of repurchase agreements (repos) by the tax authority and the revision of the national bank law in 1997, allowing the Swiss national bank (SNB) to use repos as monetary policy instrument, the prerequisites for the development of a Swiss franc repo market were given. The development of the repo market in Switzerland only came up in 1999 with the provision of an integrated trading and settlement system provided by SegaInterSettle AG (SIS), Eurex and Swiss Interbank Clearing (SIC) in collaboration with the SNB. The following paper provides an overview of the basic characteristics and structure of the Swiss franc repo market as well as of the development it has undergone since 1999. It also discusses what motives and reasons the banks possess to actively participate in the Swiss franc repo market. The content of the publication is the sole responsibility of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Credit Suisse.     

市场快讯

一、公开市场操作 4月份,央行共进行了7次正回购操作,总金额为2350亿元;本月未发行央行票据（见表1）。4月．央行回笼资金力度较大。进行的7次正回购操作．期限均为28天,回购利率均为275％．与上月持平。     

THE RELATION BETWEEN THE FEDERAL FUNDS CASH AND FUTURES MARKETS

The introduction of futures contracts did not alter the regularity in the cash market that results from the Federal Reserve regulation of the bank-settlement process. Although we find a positive preholiday effect in the Fed funds futures returns, we do not find evidence that Federal Reserve regulations cause that effect. Contrary to previous observations for other futures contracts, we find Fridays and preholidays have the largest net volume. We suggest this finding of high volume is consistent with hedging activity by financial institutions before market closings.     

The effect of contemporaneous reserve accounting on the market for federal funds

This paper evaluates the effect of the transition from lagged to contemporaneous reserve accounting for the determination of bank reserve requirements through its impact on the market for Federal funds. The results indicate that increased target reserve uncertainty resulting from the implementation of the contemporaneous reserve accounting system (CRA) caused an initial increase in intraday Federal funds rate variance and daily interest rate differences. However, subsequent to a ‘learning’ period, intraday variance appears to be less pronounced and daily differentials appear to be narrower than under the previously used lagged reserve accounting system (LRA). These results are attributed to the lengthening of the accounting period from one to two weeks. Therefore, while not costless, the new system does not appear to have seriously disrupted the Federal funds market.     

The Fed and short-term rates: Is it open market operations,open mouth operations or interest rate smoothing?

It is widely believed that the Fed controls the federal funds rate by altering the degree of pressure in the reserve market through open market operations when it changes its target for the funds rate. Recently, however, several analysts have suggested that the Fed need not conduct open market operations to change the funds rate. Rather, they argue it is sufficient that the Fed indicate its desire for the funds rate. This paper notes that there is yet a third alternative, the interest-rate-smoothing hypothesis, that suggests that the Fed does not move rates per se but, rather, smooths the transition of rates to the new equilibrium required by economic shocks. This paper tests the open market and open mouth alternatives using a methodology first used by Cook and Hahn [Journal of Monetary Economics (1989a) 331]. Finding no evidence that either open market operations or open mouth operations can account for the close relationship between the funds rate and the funds rate target, a variety of evidence consistent with the interest-rate-smoothing hypothesis is considered. The results suggest that many changes in the Fed’s funds rate target are an endogenous response to economic events and suggest that an alternative way to identify exogenous changes in policy is to identify exogenous changes in the Fed’s funds rate target.     

2011年中国货币市场展望

2010年,货币政策向常态回归,市场流动性总体较为宽松,但流动性和利率的波动幅度加大。展望2011年的中国货币市场,由于商业银行超额存款准备金率已降至低位,银行开始调整资产结构,预计法定存款准备金率的上调空间将低于2%;商业银行可用资金呈中性偏紧态势,预计隔夜回购利率均值在2.1%～2.3%;央票利率基于其价格引导作用在短期内不会超过定存利率,而扩大公开市场规模则有利于应对流动性变化。     

Corporate bond returns and the financial crisis

We examine effects of government actions and related accounting policies on the corporate bond market implied by changes in relations between aggregate bond returns and cash flow and discount rate news. We capture the influence of risk by partitioning bonds into investment and speculative grades. We use earnings changes as a proxy for cash flow news and T-Bill rate changes as a proxy for discount rate news. As expected, during non-crisis periods, we observe a positive relation between earnings changes and bond returns and a negative relation for T-Bill rate changes. A combination of government bailouts of large financial institutions and mark-to-market accounting preserves the positive relation for earnings changes during the crisis for investment grade bonds, while absence of these factors leads to an insignificant relation for speculative grade. Intervention by the Federal Reserve to induce lower interest rates as earnings were declining, a flight to safety shifting demand from corporate bonds to T-Bills, and low cost funds invested in risk free investments explain a reversal of the relation between bond returns and T-Bill rate changes for both grades.     

2010年2月国际金融市场运行综述

2010年2月，受欧洲主权债务问题影响，市场避险情绪升温，美元对欧元、英镑走强，对日元走弱。因市场预期欧央行、日本银行和美联储将继续保持较为宽松的货币政策，英国可能率先加息，美元、欧元、日元短期利率基本走平，英镑短期利率微升。美国、英国、德国中长期国债收益率先升后降，日本中长期国债收益率下降。全球主要股指先跌后涨。     

Tests of the expectations hypothesis: Resolving the anomalies when the short-term rate is the federal funds rate

The expectations hypothesis (EH) of the term structure plays an important role in the analysis of monetary policy, where shorter-term rates are assumed to be determined by the market’s expectation for the overnight federal funds rate. With two exceptions, tests using the effective federal funds rate as the short-term rate easily reject the EH. These exceptions are when the EH is tested over the nonborrowed reserve targeting period and when the test is performed only using data for settlement Wednesdays – the last day of bank reserve maintenance period. This paper argues that these exceptions are anomalous: in the former case, the failure to reject the EH occurs when economic analysis suggests that the market should be less able to forecast the federal funds rate. In the latter case, it occurs when there are sharp spikes in the funds rate that cannot improve materially the market’s ability to forecast the funds rate. Additional analysis shows that these anomalous results are a consequence of the procedure used to test the EH.     

International linkages and macroeconomic news effects on interest rate volatility — Australia and the US

We examine international linkages between daily time series of US and Australian 3-month treasury bills and 10-year government bonds from 1987–1995, paying particular attention to the effects of macroeconomic announcements in both countries. The two countries' interest rate data are modeled by a bivariate exponential generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (EGARCH) formulation. The results suggest that market participants believed the Reserve Bank of Australia targeted the consumer price index (CPI), while the Federal Reserve targeted economic activity. Monetary policy announcements had significant effects on interest rates, as well as on their volatility in the short term. US macroeconomic activity announcements significantly moved Australian interest rates, particularly at the short end. Australian interest rates moved significantly in response to the previous day's US interest rate shocks. The conditional volatility of the Australian interest rate changes was also significantly influenced by lagged US interest rate shocks, as well as by surprises in US macroeconomic announcements. Some macroeconomic news announcements raised conditional volatilities, while others reduced them. Overall, there was a remarkable and complex array of linkages between the two countries.     

The mechanics of a graceful exit: Interest on reserves and segmentation in the federal funds market

To combat the financial crisis that intensified in the fall of 2008, the Federal Reserve injected a substantial amount of liquidity into the banking system. The resulting increase in reserve balances exerted downward price pressure in the federal funds market, and the effective federal funds rate began to deviate from the target rate set by the Federal Open Market Committee. In response, the Federal Reserve revised its operational framework for implementing monetary policy and began to pay interest on reserve balances in an attempt to provide a floor for the federal funds rate. Nevertheless, following the policy change, the effective federal funds rate remained below not only the target but also the rate paid on reserve balances. We develop a model to explain this phenomenon and use data from the federal funds market to evaluate it empirically. In turn, we show how successful the Federal Reserve may be in raising the federal funds rate even in an environment with substantial reserve balances.     

美联储固定利率全额供应隔夜逆回购协议工具的运用及前景

为提高对短期利率的管理能力等,美联储联邦公开市场委员会（FOMC）透露将可能使用新的货币政策工具,即固定利率全额供应隔夜逆回购协议。文章分析了该工具推出的原因,总结了美联储在使用该工具过程中对其所做的主要调整,并评价了该工具的使用效果,梳理了各方关于该工具使用前景的观点。     

国外流动性变化对我国流动性和利率的影响分析

随着市场对于美联储提前退出量化宽松政策预期的增强,研究国外流动性变化对我国流动性和利率变化的影响具有现实意义。该文通过实证分析发现,国外流动性变化对我国流动性变化的影响较大,而国外利率变化对我国利率变化的影响不明显。针对美联储量化宽松货币政策退出产生的影响,文章提出相关应对建议。     

Credit risk dynamics in response to changes in the federal funds target: The implication for firm short-term debt

The recent credit crisis has raised a number of interesting questions regarding the role of the Federal Reserve Bank and the effectiveness of its expected and unexpected interventions in financial markets, especially during the crisis, given its mandate. This paper reviews and evaluates the impact of expected and unexpected changes in the federal funds rate target on credit risk premia. The paper's main innovation is the use of an ACH-VAR (autoregressive conditional hazard VAR) model to generate the Fed's expected and unexpected monetary policy shocks which are then used to determine the effects of a Federal Reserve policy change on counterparty credit risk and more importantly short-term firm debt financing. The findings answer a longstanding question sought by researchers on the effect of policy makers' announcements on firm debt financing. The results clearly show that the Federal Reserve influences short-term debt financing through the credit channel for both expansionary and contractionary monetary policies. In particular, we find that the growth in counterparty risk appears less responsive to anticipated responses in the Fed funds rate that fail to materialize than to an unanticipated increase in the federal funds rate. Finally, we also document that the results appear to validate the Feds interventions in financial markets to stem counterparty risk and to make liquidity more readily available to firms.