FOMC Minutes

Meeting of Federal Open Market Committee December 19. 1972 MINUTES OF ACTIONS A meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee was held in the offices of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D. C., on Tuesday, December 19, 1972, at 10:15 a.m. PRESENT: Mr. Burns, Chairman Mr. Hayes, Vice Chairman Mr. Brimmer Mr. Bucher Mr. Coldwell Mr. Daane Mr. Eastburn Mr. MacLaury Mr. Mitchell Mr. Robertson Mr. Sheehan Mr. Winn Messrs. Francis, Heflin, Mayo, and Balles, Alternate Members of the Federal Open Market Committee Messrs. Morris, Kimbrel, and Clay, Presidents of the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston, Atlanta, and Kansas City, respectively Mr. Holland, Secretary Mr. Broida, Deputy Secretary Messrs. Altmann and Bernard, Assistant Secretaries Mr. Hackley, General Counsel Mr. O'Connell, Assistant General Counsel Mr. Partee, Senior Economist Mr. Axilrod, Economist (Domestic Finance) Messrs. Boehne, Bryant, Gramley, Green, Hersey, Hocter, Kareken, and Link, Associate Economists Mr. Holmes, Manager, System Open Market Account 12/19/72 Mr. Melnicoff, Deputy Executive Director, Board of Governors Mr. O'Brien, Special Assistant to the Board of Governors Mr. Reynolds, Associate Director, Division of International Finance, Board of Governors Mr. Chase, Associate Director, Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors Messrs. Keir, Pierce, Wernick, and Williams, Advisers, Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors Mr. Pizer, Adviser, Division of International Finance, Board of Governors Mr. Wendel, Chief, Government Finance Section, Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors Mrs. Rehanek, Open Market Secretariat Assistant, Office of the Secretary, Board of Governors Mrs. Sherman, Secretary, Office of the Secretary, Board of Governors Messrs. Eisenmenger, Parthemos, Taylor, Scheld, and Andersen, Senior Vice Presidents, Federal Reserve Banks of Boston, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, and St. Louis, respectively Messrs. Bodner and Doll, Vice Presidents, Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Kansas City, respectively Mr. Meek, Assistant Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of New York Mr. Bisignano, Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco By unanimous vote, the System open market transactions in foreign currencies during the period November 21 through December 18, 1972, were approved, ratified, and confirmed. 12/19/72 By unanimous vote, renewal for further periods of 3 months of the three System drawings on the National Bank of Belgium maturing in the period January 5-26, 1973, was authorized. By unanimous vote, the open market transactions in Government securities, agency obligations, and bankers' acceptances during the period November 21 through December 18, 1972, were approved, ratified, and confirmed. By unanimous vote, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York was authorized and directed, until otherwise directed by the Committee, to execute transactions for the System Account in accordance with the following current economic policy directive: The information reviewed at this meeting, including strong recent gains in industrial production, employment, and retail sales, suggests that real output of goods and services is growing more rapidly in the current quarter than in the third quarter. The unemployment rate has declined. Wage rates increased little in November, following 2 months of large increases. Consumer prices rose considerably again in October, and wholesale prices rose sharply in November. The over-all deficit in the U.S. balance of payments has remained substantial in recent months, but there has been a moderate reduction in the excess of U.S. merchandise imports over exports since last spring and summer. In November rates of growth in the monetary aggre gates generally remained moderate, but expansion in the narrowly defined money stock quickened in early December. In recent weeks most market interest rates have tended upward. In light of the foregoing developments, it is the policy of the Federal Open Market Committee to foster financial conditions conducive to sustainable real economic growth and increased employment, abatement 12/19/72 of inflationary pressures, and attainment of reasonable equilibrium in the country's balance of payments. To implement this policy, while taking account of Treasury financing operations and possible credit market developments, the Committee seeks to achieve bank reserve and money market conditions that will support slower growth in monetary aggregates over the months ahead than appears indicated for the second half of this year. It was agreed that the next meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee would be held on Tuesday, January 16, 1973, at 9:30 a.m. Thereupon the meeting adjourned. Secretary

Federal Reserve (1972, December 18). FOMC Minutes. Fomc Minutes, Federal Reserve. https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/fomc_minutes_19721219

@misc{wtfs_fomc_minutes_19721219,
  author = {Federal Reserve},
  title = {FOMC Minutes},
  year = {1972},
  month = {Dec},
  howpublished = {Fomc Minutes, Federal Reserve},
  url = {https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/fomc_minutes_19721219},
  note = {Retrieved via When the Fed Speaks corpus}
}