Federal Reserve erhöht Zinsen um 50 Basispunkte! - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

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Increases benchmark fed funds rate to 6.5%, discount rate to 6%
May 16, 2000: 2:15 p.m. ET


NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The Federal Reserve Tuesday raised short-term interest rates by a half percentage point in an effort to slow the U.S. economy and ensure prices for goods and services don`t flare out of control.

As expected, the Fed`s policy-making arm raised its influential fed funds target for overnight loans between banks to 6.5 percent, the highest level since January 1991. It also raised the discount rate -- the rate at which the Fed`s 12 district banks lend directly to financial institutions -- to 6 percent, the highest level since August 1991.

The increase is the first time in five years that Fed officials opted to lift benchmark rates by more than a quarter point, and marks the sixth time in the last 11 months that the Fed has raised interest rates.

For consumers, the rate increase means interest payments on their credit cards and lines of credit are once again going up. The Fed hopes such increases will make consumers think twice about charging that expensive meal or buying that new notebook computer. The same goes for companies, which will be paying a little more to borrow money to finance their ventures.

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Fed Raises Short-Term Rates a Half Percentage Point, as Expected
By Elizabeth Roy Stanton
Senior Writer
5/16/00 2:15 PM ET

Throwing its effort to slow the pace of economic growth into high gear, the Fed decided today to raise the fed funds rate by an aggressive half percentage point, to 6.5% from 6%. Almost every Wall Street forecaster expected the move.

It was the sixth hike in the key short-term lending rate since June, but the first 50-basis-point hike since February 1995. Each of the five previous hikes lifted the funds rate by 25 basis points. Most forecasters started calling for a 50-basis-point hike at today`s meeting after the first-quarter Employment Cost Index (definition | chart | source) and GDP (definition | chart | source) report detected higher levels of inflation.

What Rate Hikes Have Wrought
Changes in major market indicators since the Fed started hiking
Instrument 6/29/99 5/15/00 Change Percent Change*
DJIA 10,791.29 10807.78 +16.49 +0.2%
S&P 500 1351.45 1452.36 +100.91 +7.5
Nasdaq 2642.11 3607.65 +965.54 +36.5
Wilshire 5000 12,584.00 13437.65 +853.65 +6.8
Currency and Commodities

Dollar Index 117.89 120.59 +2.70 +2.3
CRB Index 189.37 219.98 +30.61 +16.2
Oil 18.56 29.95 +11.39 +61.4
Gold 260.50 275.90 +15.40 +5.9
Treasury Yields

2-Year Note 5.680% 6.745% +1.065 +2.7
5-Year Note 5.820 6.707 +0.887 +1.2
10-Year Note 5.930 6.450 +0.520 +0.4
30-Year Bond 6.070 6.155 +0.085 +0.9
*For Treasury securities, percent change represents total return. Source: Reuters, Federal Reserve (dollar index), Merrill Lynch (Treasury total returns)


In its statement announcing the policy change, the Federal Open Market Committee said:

Increases in demand have remained in excess of even the rapid pace of productivity-driven gains in potential supply, exerting continued pressure on resources. The Committee is concerned that this disparity in the growth of demand and potential supply will continue, which could foster inflationary imbalances that would undermine the economy`s outstanding performance.
The fed funds rate now stands at its highest level since 1991. When this tightening cycle started, it stood at 4.75%.

In addition, the FOMC said in its statement that it believes the economy remains at risk of higher inflation. This, too, was expected, and suggests that more rate hikes will follow, perhaps as soon as the FOMC`s next meeting, June 27-28.

The Fed also boosted the discount rate by 50 basis points, lifting it to 6% from 5.5%.


Quelle: thestreet.com