FED Funds Rising

Recently Fed Funds futures have been predicting a rise in the target rate by the Federal Reserve. Many pundits talk about how unlikely that is, (especially our friends at Across the Curve).

However, few bloggers or news services point you to the actual fed funds market. The Federal Reserve doesn't control fed funds directly, they can only "help it along" with the purchase and sale of bonds (it used to be Treasurys only, but to legitimize the "full faith and credit" implied support of agency bonds they now buy those, too).

If you've been watching that market, you'll know the rate has actually been moving up toward the higher end of the range. If you are interested in the bond market, you should bookmark the Federal Funds Data.

Like the CBOE e-mail we pointed out today, you can also sign up for free e-mail alerts on Fed Funds. We always recommend you get your data direct from the horses mouth, rather than rely on some editor to tell you what it says. You might think they are experts and know how to interpret it better than you, but read this blog daily and you won't need them to think for you.