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Federal Reserve Vs Foreign Exchange Essay

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The Federal Reserve has the dual job of ensuring price stability and maximum employment, which are contradictory objectives. The Feds try to achieve the goals through monetary policy which determines the demand and supply of money by controlling interest rates. The Fed’s goal is to achieve a natural rate of unemployment of more or less 5%. When the actual unemployment figures are below the natural rate of unemployment, inflation increases and there is a high demand of goods and services propelling the economy with the ensuing labor demands and the pressure it places on wages, which in turn produces inflation. When the Fed is faced with this scenario, it must increase the rates to slow the growth and achieve price stability (contractionary cycle). …show more content…

How do central banks intervene in foreign exchange markets?

Central banks intervene in foreign exchange markets by “influencing the monetary funds transfer rate of a nation’s currency” with the purpose of building reserves, keeping the exchange rate stable, to correct imbalances, to avoid volatility and keep credibility. It implies changing the value of a currency against another one. It creates demand or supply of a currency by buying or selling the country’s currency in the foreign exchange market. (Foreign Exchange Intervention)

Central banks use two types of transactions: spot transactions (an agreement between two parties to buy or sell currency in exchange for another at the current exchange rate) which are settled within two business day (Spot Transactions, n.d.) and forward transactions which are contracts trading in the over the counter markets (OTC) that lock in the exchange rate of a currency to be bought or sold in the future. An example of forward transaction would be when an American company sells its goods to a Mexican company to be paid in one year and the American company enters into a forward transaction to lock the amount of money to be paid in the future. (Currency Forward Definition,

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