International interest rates and US monetary policy announcements: Evidence from Hong Kong and Singapore

This paper investigates the responses of market interest rates to US monetary policy announcements for the US and two emerging economies, Hong Kong and Singapore which are similar on many respects but have experienced opposite exchange rate regimes in the last twenty years. Our results, based on market expectations extracted from federal fund futures rates, document that FOMC announcements significantly affect the term structure of interest rate in the US and both Asian countries. Further, international interest rate differentials around FOMC meeting dates tend to be negative for short maturities with the impact gradually dissipating as bond maturity increases. Finally, for the case of Singapore, we find that domestic interest rates react to both external and domestic monetary policy announcements with a magnitude that is larger over the full bond maturity spectrum for domestic announcements. These results are robust to time-varying futures risk premia and alternative measures of interest rates expectations.     

The impact of monetary policy candidness on Australian financial markets

In January 1990, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) changed from a covert disclosure policy to an overt disclosure policy. Using a sample from January 1986 to September 2001, this paper examines the reaction of Australian financial markets to rate target changes within each of these disclosure regimes. We find significantly different announcement day responses between the two disclosure regimes for both short-term and long-term treasury securities, and equity indices. Overall, the results indicate that when monetary policy is more transparent, the market reaction is less pronounced and, therefore, we conclude that fuller disclosure of monetary policy allows investors to more optimally manage their portfolios.     

The reaction of the Australian financial markets to the interest rate news from the Reserve Bank of Australia and the U.S. Fed

This paper provides comprehensive evidence on the impacts of the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) and the U.S. Fed's target interest rate announcement news on the Australian financial markets over the period 1998–2006. The RBA's news had a significant impact on the first moments of market returns/changes in line with a priori expectations, and the conditional volatility in most of the markets was significantly higher following the news. Asymmetric news effect is also observed for the Australian interest rates where markets tended to respond more strongly to unexpected rate rises than rate falls. While the U.S. Fed's news influenced only the USD/AUD exchange rate, the Australian market volatility was significantly lower in all market segments following the Fed's news.     

Intraday volatility responses to monetary policy events

This paper explores the effects of US monetary policy events on intraday volatility in the US equity markets. We examine Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announcements as well as real-time changes in market expectations about future policy announcements and their impact on the intraday volatility dynamics of the S&P 500 index. The analysis shows elevated intraday volatility following FOMC announcements through the market close, with a spike at the time of the announcement. We then differentiate the volatility spike by modeling an asymmetric response based on the direction of the actual target rate change. Our results suggest that the size of the volatility spike is dependent on the direction of the rate change, with expansionary monetary policy actions having a larger spike than contractionary policy actions. The duration of these volatility spikes is relatively short-lived, with the spike dampening out within 15 minutes. A more lasting impact is, however, documented for real-time changes in market expectations where the volatility spike tends to persist for at least one hour.     

Futures prices as risk-adjusted forecasts of monetary policy

Many researchers have used federal funds futures rates as measures of financial markets’ expectations of future monetary policy. However, to the extent that federal funds futures reflect risk premia, these measures require some adjustment. In this paper, we document that excess returns on federal funds futures have been positive on average and strongly countercyclical. In particular, excess returns are surprisingly well predicted by macroeconomic indicators such as employment growth and financial business-cycle indicators such as Treasury yield spreads and corporate bond spreads. Excess returns on eurodollar futures display similar patterns. We document that simply ignoring these risk premia significantly biases forecasts of the future path of monetary policy. We also show that risk premia matter for some futures-based measures of monetary policy shocks used in the literature.     

Monetary policy and financial stability: What role for the futures market?

This paper examines interactions between monetary policy and financial stability. There is a general view that central banks smooth interest rate changes to enhance the stability of financial markets. But might this induce a moral hazard problem, and induce financial institutions to maintain riskier portfolios, the presence of which would further inhibit active monetary policy? Hedging activities of financial institutions, such as the use of interest rate futures and swap markets to reduce risk, should further protect markets against consequences of unforeseen interest rate changes. Thus, smoothing may be both unnecessary and undesirable. The paper shows by a theoretical argument that smoothing interest rates may lead to indeterminacy of the economy's rational expectations equilibrium. Nevertheless, our empirical analysis supports the view that the Federal Reserve smoothes interest rates and reacts to interest rate futures. We add new evidence on the importance for policy of alternative indicators of financial markets stress.     

The impact of monetary policy on the exchange rate: evidence from three small open economies

This paper studies the impact effect of monetary policy shocks on the exchange rate in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand during the 1990s. Shocks are identified by the reaction of three month market interest rates to policy announcements that were not themselves endogenous to economic news on the same day. The main result is that a 100 basis point contractionary shock will appreciate the exchange rate by 2-3 percent on impact. The association of interest rate hikes with depreciations that is sometimes observed during periods of exchange market pressure is mainly attributable to reverse causality.     

Perfecting the Market's Knowledge of Monetary Policy

The rational expectations revolution made clear that a complete macro model requires a specification of the government's economic policy. We argue that monetary policy should be conducted in such a way that the market can predict policy actions. An implication of market success in predicting policy actions is that interest rates move ahead of the policy actions, and such a timing relationship may appear to some as the central bank following the market instead of leading it. Another implication of the market predicting policy actions is that nominal interest rate changes provide no useful information to the central bank about the strength of aggregate demand or inflationary expectations. Finally, failure of the market to predict policy actions reflects a problem that needs to be addressed.We explore the theoretical implications of a monetary policy that is completely specified and perfectly understood by the market. We construct a bare-bones model to illustrate the key concepts. Finally, we conduct an empirical investigation of these issues, especially in the context of monetary policy since 1988, when the establishment of the federal funds future market made available well-defined market information on expectations about Fed policy actions. We find that when the intended funds rate is changed, interest rates over the maturity spectrum respond to news measured by changes in the one-month-ahead funds futures yield but do not respond to the anticipated component of the change in the intended funds rate.     

A wicksellian indicator of monetary policy

This paper compares actual U.S. monetary policy with an ideal policy based upon Wicksell's theory of natural and market rates of interest. For the period 1952–1971, this comparison indicates that actual policies behaved in a distinctly pro-cyclical manner with the result that monetary policies amplified the magnitude of the business cycles. The explanation offered suggests that this stems from the central bank's attempt to stabilize the interest rate which is consistent with one of the paper's findings of a highly significant positive relationship between changes in the natural rate of interest and changes in the monetary base.     

Understanding the impact of monetary policy announcements: The importance of language and surprises

Monetary policy announcements have a significant impact on financial market liquidity. This study provides a novel perspective on the factors driving this relationship in the market for 10-year Treasury note futures: Target rate surprises and the complexity of the monetary policy statement language are important determinants. Differences of opinion resulting from interpretation of complex language appear to result in more trading volume despite relatively low levels of liquidity (a negative liquidity-volume relationship), while large target rate surprises reduce trading activity (a positive liquidity-volume relationship). The dynamic changes over time, as unconventional polices are adopted by monetary authorities and, high frequency traders become more pervasive. Central bankers may aid market liquidity by minimizing surprises, and issuing statements that are easier to understand (with shorter sentences and more familiar words).     

The open economy consequences of U.S. monetary policy

We consider the open economy consequences of U.S. monetary policy, extending the identification approach of Romer and Romer (2004) and adapting it for use with asset prices. Intended policy changes are orthogonalized against the economy’s expected future path, which captures any effects from open economy variables. Estimated from a set of bilateral VARs, the dynamic responses of the exchange rate, foreign interest rate, and foreign output are consistent with recent work that identifies U.S. policy via futures market changes and a priori impulse response bounds. We compare the two approaches, finding important commonalities. We also outline some advantages of our approach.     

Investor sentiment and the stock market’s reaction to monetary policy

This paper shows that monetary policy decisions have a significant effect on investor sentiment. The effect of monetary news on sentiment depends on market conditions (bull versus bear market). We also find that monetary policy actions in bear market periods have a larger effect on stocks that are more sensitive to changes in investor sentiment and credit market conditions. Overall, the results show that investor sentiment plays a significant role in the effect of monetary policy on the stock market.     

Expected versus unexpected monetary policy impulses and interest rate pass-through in euro-zone retail banking markets

This paper investigates the interest rate pass-through in the euro-zone’s retail banking markets by differentiating between expected and unexpected monetary policy impulses. The paper introduces interest futures as measures of expected interest rates into pass-through studies. By allowing various specifications of the pass-through process, including asymmetric adjustment, we find a faster pass-through in loan markets when interest rate changes are correctly anticipated. In contrast, deposit markets are found to be more rigid. Overall, our results suggest that a well-communicated monetary policy is important for a speedier and a more homogenous pass-through but may also be complemented by competition policies.     

Futures markets and monetary policy

It has recently been argued that when differentially informed agents trade with one another monetary policy can influence the distribution of output by altering the information content of prices. This paper introduces a futures market into the Barro (1980) model and shows that under certain conditions prices may aggregate information in a manner such that differentially informed agents hold identical beliefs concerning aggregate market conditions. In such cases, monetary policy will be unable to influence the distribution of output. These results then serve as a backdrop for a more general discussion of the relationship between asset prices and the role of monetary policy.     

The channels of monetary policy triggered by central bank actions and statements in the Australian equity market

Owing to the discrete disclosure practices of the Reserve Bank of Australia, this paper provides new evidence on the channels of monetary policy triggered by central bank actions (monetary policy announcements) and statements (explanatory minutes releases), in the Australian equity market. Both monetary policy announcements and explanatory minutes releases are shown to have a significant and comparable impact on the returns and volatility of the Australian equity market. Further, distinct from US and European studies that find strong evidence of the interest rate, bank loan and balance sheet channels and no evidence of the exchange rate channel following central bank actions, this paper finds that monetary policy impacts the Australian equity market via the exchange rate, interest rate and bank loan channels of monetary policy, with only weak evidence of the balance sheet channel of monetary policy. These channels are found to be operating irrespective of the trigger (monetary policy announcements or explanatory minutes releases), though results are somewhat weaker when examining the explanatory minutes releases. These results have important implications for central bank officials and financial market participants alike: by confirming a comparable avenue to affect monetary policy; and providing an explication of its impact on the Australian equity market.     

The role of house prices in the monetary policy transmission mechanism in small open economies

We analyse the role of house prices in the monetary policy transmission mechanism in Norway, Sweden and the UK, using structural VARs. A solution is proposed to the endogeneity problem of identifying shocks to interest rates and house prices by using a combination of short-run and long-run (neutrality) restrictions. By allowing the interest rate and house prices to react simultaneously to news, we find the role of house prices in the monetary transmission mechanism to increase considerably. In particular, house prices react immediately and strongly to a monetary policy shock. Furthermore, the fall in house prices enhances the negative response in output and consumer price inflation that has traditionally been found in the conventional literature. Moreover, we find that the interest rate responds systematically to a change in house prices. However, the strength and timing of response varies between the countries, suggesting that housing may play a different role in the monetary policy setting.     

Factors affecting monetary policy in an era of inflation

A money supply-reaction function is developed and estimated within the context of an IS-LM framework to test the responsiveness of the Federal Reserve to the government budget restraint and certain parameters of the model. The results reveal that a large portion of the recent expansion of the monetary base may be attributed to increases in government debt and provide an essential first step in quantifying the inflationary impact of deficits. The monetary base is also expanded in response to increases in inflationary expectations and previous increases in the monetary base, but is not statistically correlated to changes in the unemployment rate or potential national income, or to rises in interest rates caused by sources other than higher inflationary expectations, previous monetary policy, or the Treasury borrowing requirement.     

The expectations theory works for monetary policy shocks

In practice, the expectations theory of the term structure is employed extensively in monetary policy analysis despite its empirical failure. This paper performs a conditional test of the theory that is directly relevant to monetary theory and policy. It finds that the theory holds quite well conditional on identified monetary policy shocks, but fails conditional on aggregate supply shocks that prompt an immediate jump in prices. It also finds that policy responses to movements in the term structure play an important role in uncovering evidence for the theory as predicted by McCallum [1994. Monetary policy and the term structure of interest rates. NBER Working Paper Series, no. 4938].     

Using a long-term interest rate as the monetary policy instrument

Using a short-term interest rate as the monetary policy instrument can be problematic near its zero bound constraint. An alternative strategy is to use a long-term interest rate as the policy instrument. We find when Taylor-type policy rules are used by the central bank to set the long rate in a standard New Keynesian model, indeterminacy—that is, multiple rational expectations equilibria—may often result. However, a policy rule with a long-rate policy instrument that responds in a “forward-looking” fashion to inflation expectations can avoid the problem of indeterminacy.     

Option-implied expectations in commodity markets and monetary policy

In this paper we estimate the dynamic interactions between option-implied variance and skewness in agricultural commodity markets and monetary policy. Using a structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) framework, we find that an expansionary (contractionary) monetary policy upwardly (downwardly) revises commodity markets’ expectations about the price and volatility path of agricultural products. On the other hand, our empirical analysis reveals that monetary policy does not have a systematic and timely response to sudden changes in option implied expectations of commodity investors. In addition, we provide empirical evidence showing the robust forecasting power of agricultural option-implied information on monetary policy with R² values reaching almost 52%.