Fed Funds Effective Rate Shows Fed Did Indeed Hike by 25 Basis Points

I was on record stating a belief the Fed would effectively hike by 1/8 point. I had that belief because that is what the Fed Fund Futures implied.

Regardless, I was wrong. If someone is going to prove you wrong it may as well be yourself.

Here is a table of Effective Fed Funds Rates straight from the New York Fed. I created the table from their downloadable data.

Effective Fed Funds Rate

DateEffective RateLowHighStd. Dev.Target Rate
2015-12-170.370.250.590.050.25-0.50
2015-12-160.150.080.550.040.00-0.25
2015-12-150.150.090.310.040.00-0.25
2015-12-140.150.070.310.040.00-0.25
2015-12-110.140.070.380.040.00-0.25
2015-12-100.140.070.380.040.00-0.25
2015-12-090.140.060.380.040.00-0.25
2015-12-080.130.060.350.040.00-0.25
2015-12-070.130.060.350.040.00-0.25
2015-12-040.130.060.350.040.00-0.25
2015-12-030.130.060.350.040.00-0.25
2015-12-020.130.040.350.040.00-0.25
2015-12-010.130.070.350.050.00-0.25
2015-11-300.080.040.310.060.00-0.25
2015-11-270.120.020.350.050.00-0.25
2015-11-250.120.060.350.040.00-0.25
2015-11-240.120.050.350.050.00-0.25
2015-11-230.120.070.350.050.00-0.25
2015-11-200.120.070.350.040.00-0.25
2015-11-190.120.050.350.050.00-0.25
2015-11-180.120.050.350.050.00-0.25
2015-11-170.130.070.350.050.00-0.25
2015-11-160.130.060.350.050.00-0.25
2015-11-130.120.060.350.040.00-0.25
2015-11-120.120.050.350.040.00-0.25

Previous effective rates hovered around 12.5 basis points. That is 1/8 of a point. A quarter-point (25 basis points) hike would have been to 37.5. An eighth-of-a-point hike would have been to 25 basis points. Today we are at 37.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock