Bank Deals Blog: Deposits Education and Strategies

The Fed announced its first 50-bp rate hike since 2000 at the conclusion of its meeting today. In addition, the FOMC statement suggested that additional 50-bp rate hikes will be likely. The big news came from the post-meeting press conference when Fed Chair Powell downplayed the possibility of a 75-bp rate hike. That was interpreted by the markets as a dovish move resulting in a rally in the stock market. This didn’t help ease concerns that the Fed isn’t up to the job of controlling inflation.

Before reviewing the Fed Chair’s...

After two years of near zero rates, the Fed has announced liftoff with a 25-bp rate hike. In addition, the FOMC statement suggested that rate hikes are likely at each of the remaining six meetings this year. In addition to rate hikes, the Fed addressed its balance sheet. It didn’t announce a reduction of its balance sheet at this meeting, but it did state that the reduction would begin “at a coming meeting.” The following is an excerpt from today’s FOMC statement that describes these policy actions:

The Fed delivered today what was widely expected in paving the way for rate liftoff at its March 15-16 meeting. The language from the FOMC statement and from Fed Chair Powell’s press conference made it pretty clear that, barring any surprises, a rate hike in March should be expected. The Fed also met expectations on tapering by announcing one final round of asset purchases in February which will result in taper completion by March. The following excerpt from today’s FOMC statement is the formal announcement of these plans:

Unlike banks, credit unions have fields of membership (FOMs). You must be in the FOM to be eligible to join the credit union. Many FOMs include a geographic area. If you live or work in that area, you are part of the FOM and eligible to join the credit union. Also, many credit union FOMs include Select Employee Groups (SEGs). If you work for one of these employers, you are part of the FOM and eligible to join. It’s also very common for credit union FOMs to include family members.

Family...

The speed-up of tapering was formally announced in today’s Fed statement. This speed-up will result in tapering ending in March 2022. During the press conference, Fed Chair Powell confirmed that the Fed does not want to start hiking rates before tapering has been completed. Thus, the tapering speed-up should be considered a speed-up of future rate hikes. Also, the speed-up of future rate hikes can be seen in the new dot plot from today’s Summary of Economic Projections (SEP). The dot plot shows that 12 out of 18 of...

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You can use our reward checking table to...

At the completion of its two-day FOMC meeting, the Fed announced the start of tapering in its FOMC statement. As expected, the pace of tapering will be $15 billion reduction per month, which should end asset purchases by June of next year. The Fed left open the possibility that it might adjust the pace of tapering:

The only other important change is related to the Fed’s “transitory” inflation language. The Fed is still sticking with transitory, but it added some acknowledgement of uncertainties. It also tried to provide an explanation about...

At the completion of its two-day FOMC meeting, the Fed issued a statement that had the one important addition that points to a taper announcement at the Fed’s next meeting (November 2-3):

The only other change from the July FOMC statement was the recognition that the latest COVID-19 wave has impacted the economic recovery:

Everything else in today’s FOMC statement was the same as the July statement. The statement continues to claim that the recent high inflation is transitory. “Inflation is elevated, largely reflecting transitory factors.” The zero interest rate policy and...

Certificates of deposit (CDs)...