www.FMCENTER.com
For some, the Federal Reserve Board, its operations, and intentions are shrouded in mystery, if not paranoia and conspiracy theory. One regular advertisement on Internet and AM radio teases listeners darkly with the invitation to purchase a book that promises to:
..."[E]xpose the almost inconceivable stories of deceit, conspiracy, and media coverup involving the creation of the Federal Reserve System, an entity that emerges as a secret government more powerful than the duly constituted government of the President, the Congress and the Courts."Even less excitable observers can't help but regard the institution known colloquially as "the Fed" with some measure of awe and despair. William Greider titled his classic book on the Federal Reserve System Secrets Of The Temple. G. Edward Griffin collected his observations on the Fed in a book called The Creature From Jeckyll Island. Libertarian economist Murray Rothbard never tired of pillorying the Fed in his books, with titles such as The Case Against The Fed and What Has The Government Done To Our Money?
Figure 1: Financial markets center homepage
My favorite summary of the Fed comes from trader and author Victor
Sperandeo, who discussed the Federal Reserve in one of his books in a chapter
entitled, "Booms and busts: Who holds the pump and who holds the needle?"
Wonder who he's talking about? Here's a hint: three letters, starting with "F" and ending with "D."
FIGURING THE FED
On the other hand, if you're looking for somewhat less passionate but more nuanced and thorough commentary on the Federal Reserve System, then I don't know if you'll find too many better resources on the Internet than the Financial Markets Center at fmcenter.org.
The Financial Markets Center, which was started back in 1997, provides a staggering array of information, market data, policy discussions, and position papers to website visitors and subscribers to its email newsletter. If you're trying to figure out what the Fed is about, what it's done, and/or is planning to do, and how to parse their language and read between and betwixt their often-opaque statements on the economy and financial markets, then Financial Markets Center is a resource that deserves to be bookmarked.
The website is divided into five different hyperlinked departments, each of which is further subdivided into smaller hyperlinked sections. The five main areas are "About the Institution," "Monetary Policy," "Monitoring the Fed," "Financial Markets and the Economy," and "About FMC." The "About the Institution" section of Financial Markets Center includes information about the Board of Governors, the various Federal Reserve banks, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the two advisory groups (the Federal Advisory Council and the Consumer Advisory Council), a section on institutional practices and, finally, a section on political economy.
The "Monetary Policy" section is subdivided into three smaller hyperlinked sections: one contains transcripts, announcements, minutes, and votes from the FOMC, and a second section contains tables, reports, and the minutes from discount lending activities (the "Discount Window"). Policy analysis will also be found in this second subsection.
The third subsection is called "Monitoring the Fed" and has eight smaller sections that include information on everything from legislative oversight, and a Fed watchers' Research Roundup to a community affairs section and "Learning Tools," including a hypertexted "primer" on the Federal Reserve Board, its history, and operations.
A fourth main section, "Financial Markets and the Economy," is where some of the more advanced Fed watchers will likely spend most of their time when visiting the Financial Markets Center at fmcenter.org. This area is further divided into five sections that consider not just the Federal Reserve Board and its operations, but expands upon the nexus between monetary policy as guided by the Fed and fiscal policy as guided by the legislative and executive branches. Here, readers will find coverage of both the Beige Book and flow of funds, information about the Gramm-Leach-Bliley law-a law that finalized a 65-year retreat from the Depression-era banking restrictions of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1934-as well as discussion on banking and retail credit, and securities.
A section on global economics includes a capital flows monitor, and two final sections provide information about international financial regulation and the Fed's payment systems.
FINDING FINANCIAL MARKETS CENTER
The sources of information provided through Financial Markets Center are extensive and range from summaries and analysis created by the research team of associates and fellows, to position papers and essays available from economists, financial analysts, and Fed watchers around the country, to internal documents such as transcripts, addresses, and minutes from the Federal Reserve Board itself. Financial Markets Center manages to scale all the way from the Federal Reserve neophyte for whom an Idiot's Guide To The Federal Reserve might seem the most appropriate sourcebook to the scholar, economist, or financial professional researching the debates of the FOMC during the 1981 recession.
The final section provides information just about the Financial Markets Center itself, including background information on the Center's staff, research associates and research fellows, and board of directors. A mission statement for the center can also be found here, as can various essays, speeches and public comments on a variety of topics from center staff. In addition to providing contact information here, the center also posts information about its educational outreach efforts, including material about past seminars and conferences.
Most people who spend a lot of time dealing with the financial markets -- as traders, investors, or simply readers of The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times Sunday business section -- will sooner or later have their "Fed moment" when they figure out this Federal Reserve Board "stuff" once and for all. While there is an enormous amount of material out there on the Fed, it is easy to get lost insofar as there are few people who bother to understand, interpret, and write about what the Fed does who aren't trying to sell a specific, determined take on the Fed. Fortunately, some of those people who aren't trying to sell you on their radical opinion of the Fed are available right here, for free, at Financial Markets Center at fmcenter.org.
-David Penn, Technical Writer
Originally published in the May 2005 issue of Technical Analysis of STOCKS & COMMODITIES magazine. All rights reserved. © Copyright 2005, Technical Analysis, Inc.