Deciphering Fedspeak: The Information Content of FOMC Meetings

Discussant for Andrew Wu (University of Michigan) at the Journal of Investment Conference, Fall 2017.

Abstract: Jegadeesh and Wu present a new approach to quantify the economic and policy content of the Federal Reserve communications by dissecting the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes into eight distinct economic topics. They examine the informativeness of the Fed's discussion of each of these topics for the stock market and for interest rates. The market finds the Fed's discussion of its policy stance, inflation and employment to be the most informative and its discussion of topics such as trade, consumption and investment are not informative.

Jegadeesh and Wu's paper: Download PDF
My slides: Download PDF