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The Federal Reserve as an informed foreign-exchange trader: 1973-1995

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  • Michael D. Bordo
  • Owen F. Humpage
  • Anna J. Schwartz
Abstract
If official interventions convey private information useful for price discovery in foreign-exchange markets, then they should have value as a forecast of near-term exchange-rate movements. Using a set of standard criteria, we show that approximately 60 percent of all U.S. foreign-exchange interventions between 1973 and 1995 were successful in this sense. This percentage, however, is no better than random. U.S. intervention sales and purchases of foreign exchange were incapable of forecasting dollar appreciations or depreciations. U.S. interventions, however, were associated with more moderate dollar movements in a manner consistent with leaning against the wind, but only about 22 percent of all U.S. interventions conformed to this pattern. We also found that the larger the size of an intervention, the greater was its probability of success, although some interventions were inefficiently large. Other potential characteristics of intervention, notably coordination and secrecy, did not seem to influence our success rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael D. Bordo & Owen F. Humpage & Anna J. Schwartz, 2011. "The Federal Reserve as an informed foreign-exchange trader: 1973-1995," Working Papers (Old Series) 1118, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedcwp:1118
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Rasmus Fatum & Yohei Yamamoto, 2012. "Does foreign exchange intervention volume matter?," Globalization Institute Working Papers 115, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    2. Michael D. Bordo & Owen F. Humpage & Anna J. Schwartz, 2015. "Epilogue: Foreign-Exchange-Market Operations in the Twenty-First Century," NBER Chapters, in: Strained Relations: US Foreign-Exchange Operations and Monetary Policy in the Twentieth Century, pages 345-363, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Alain Naef, 2021. "Dirty float or clean intervention? The Bank of England in the foreign exchange market," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 25(1), pages 180-201.
    4. Smita Roy Trivedi & P. G. Apte, 2016. "Central Bank Intervention in USD/INR Market: Estimating Its Reaction Function and Impact on Volatility," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 23(3), pages 263-279, September.
    5. Michael D Bordo & Owen F Humpage & Anna J Schwartz, 2015. "The Evolution of the Federal Reserve Swap Lines since 1962," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 63(2), pages 353-372, September.
    6. Barry Eichengreen, 2023. "The Danish problem," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 40(3), pages 781-794, October.
    7. Alain Naef & Jacob P. Weber, 2023. "How Powerful Is Unannounced, Sterilized Foreign Exchange Intervention?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 55(5), pages 1307-1319, August.
    8. Chang, Mei-Ching & Suardi, Sandy & Chang, Yuanchen, 2017. "Foreign exchange intervention in Asian countries: What determine the odds of success during the credit crisis?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 370-390.
    9. Smita Roy Trivedi & Bobby Srinivasan, 2016. "Impact of Central Bank Intervention in the Foreign Exchange Market: Evidence from India Using an Event Study Approach," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 35(4), pages 389-402, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.); Foreign exchange;

    JEL classification:

    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies

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