中美关系处于危险十字路口.doc

最 新 财 经 资 讯第 （总第226期） 国际司 2014-7-11 目 录 Fed explores overhaul of key rate FT| July 9, 2014 By Robin Harding The US Federal Reserve is exploring an overhaul of the Federal funds rate – a benchmark that underlies almost every financial transaction in the world – as it prepares for an eventual rise in interest rates. The Fed funds rate is the main measure of overnight US interest rates and is based on the actual rates reported by brokers for overnight loans between US banks. According to people familiar with the discussions, the Fed could redefine its main target rate so that it takes into account a wider range of loans between banks, making it more stable and reliable. Concerns have grown about the reliability of the Fed funds rate since the Fed began buying trillions of dollars of assets during three rounds of quantitative easing. US banks now have huge amounts of cash and have stopped borrowing or lending Fed funds, making the market highly illiquid. With the Fed targeting rates close to zero, the reliability of Fed funds has been less important but when the Fed starts raising rates – something markets expect it to do in the middle of next year – it needs to be sure that it is targeting a real benchmark. In particular, the Fed is looking at redefining the funds rate to include eurodollar transactions – dollar loans between banks outside the US markets – as well as traditional onshore loans between US banks. Other closely related rates that it could include are those on transactions for bank commercial paper and wholesale certificates of deposit between banks. ?Participants examined possibilities for changing the calculation of the effective Federal funds rate in order to obtain a more robust measure of overnight bank funding rates,” the minutes said. The central bank must be careful, however, because there are $174tn of US dollar interest rate swaps tied to Fed funds and it does not want to invalidate these. It is likely to consu