greenbooks · December 12, 1966
Greenbook/Tealbook
Prefatory Note
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based on original copies culled from the files of the FOMC Secretariat at the Board
of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. This electronic document was created
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Content last modified 6/05/2009.
CONFIDENTIAL (FR)
SUPPLEMENT
CURRENT ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CONDITIONS
Prepared for the
Federal Open Market Committee
By the Staff
Board of Governors
of the Federal Reserve System
December 9, 1966
SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES
The Domestic Economy
Inventory accumulation totaled $325 million (book value)
at retail stores and $200 million at wholesalers in October.
These
increases were much larger than the average monthly gains during the
third quarter, and, despite the reduced rate of accumulation at manufacturers, total business inventory accumulation of about $1,350 million
in October considerably exceeded the third quarter rate and was not far
below the exceptionally high May-June rates.
The bulk of the October increase at retail reflected a large
further build-up in stocks at auto dealers.
Auto stocks had begun to
rise in September but because of the sharp liquidation in July and
August they were down appreciably for the third quarter as a whole.
The book value of auto dealer stocks at the end of October equalled the
extraordinarily high level reached in late June after the sharp second
quarter ("involuntary") bulge.
With sales of new model autos lagging
in October and November, the auto industry has instituted some output
curtailments which have probably halted the rise in stocks after October.
Thus the average monthly increase in retail stocks for the entire fourth
quarter is likely to be well below the October rate.
The October rise in wholesale stocks followed a decline of
almost equal amount in September.
This series has behaved rather
erratically in recent months and, moreover, insufficient detail is
available on a preliminary basis to analyze the movement in the total.
The October rise would seem to represent a considerable overstatement
of the average increase to be expected for the quarter.
Manufacturers expect their inventory accumulation to amount
to about $2.5 billion in the current quarter and $2 billion in the
first quarter 1967, according to the latest Commerce quarterly survey
of manufacturers' sales and inventory expectations conducted in November.
While these figures represent a sizable decline from the peak third
quarter build-up of $3 billion, the book value increase now anticipated
in the first quarter remains above the rates of late 1965 and early
1966, before manufacturers' inventory accumulation accelerated so
sharply in the second and third quarters of this year.
Over the past year and a half, these inventory expectations
have exhibited a very large downward bias.
However, the stock build-up
now estimated for the current quarter is more than double the amount
originally anticipated by manufacturers (in the Commerce August survey)
and moreover actual accumulation in October (the latest monthly data
available) was close to the monthly rate indicated for the entire quarter.
The anticipated decline in the rate of inventory accumulation
is concentrated in durable goods industries, the locus of the earlier
sharp acceleration.
In the durable sector, the percentage of inventories
classified as "high" (relative to current sales and unfilled orders) has
risen sharply since spring, from 18 per cent in March to 21 per cent in
June and 27 per cent in September.
According to the survey, sales gains were only fractional
and well below earlier expectations in the third quarter--in both the
durable and nondurable goods sectors.
In the fourth and first quarters,
durable goods producers--particularly in the machinery and transportation
equipment industries--anticipate a pick-up in sales increases--with the
rise in the fourth quarter (3 per cent) about as large as was anticipated
last August.
Whether this pick-up eventuates appears to be uncertain,
particularly in view of the recent significant lowering by business of
its planned expansion in outlays for plant and equipment.
Nondurable
goods producers meanwhile are more pessimistic than they were last
summer, looking for little change in sales in the current quarter and
only a slight gain in early 1967.
Dollar sales at retail stores, which showed little change in
September and October, declined 1 per cent in November according to
advance figures.
The November decline reflected mainly a 5 per cent
decrease at auto dealers.
Sales of other durable goods and the total
for nondurable goods stores were little changed from September-October
levels.
The Domestic Financial Situation
On the basis of later data, commercial bank credit is now
estimated to have increased by $700 million in November--$100 million
above our earlier estimate--or at an annual rate of 2.7 per cent, rather
The revised estimates are
than 2.3 per cent as stated in the Greenbook.
particularly large for bank holdings of U.S. Government securities.
Banks outside of New York retained a larger share of the late November
Treasury issue than previously thought, and it is now estimated that
bank holdings of Treasury securities increased by $500 million rather
than $200 million.
These increased holdings accounted for almost three-
fourths of the estimated increase in bank credit.
The additional data
also suggest that business loans expanded less than estimated in the
Greenbook--4.6 per cent rather than 6 per cent.
1/
CHANGES IN COMMERCIAL BANK CREDIT(Annual rate - per cent)
1966
2Nove
/ SeptemberNovember,/
Total loans & investments
1965
January-
Year
August
2.7
- 2.6
8.4
10.2
U.S. Government securities
11.5
-22.9
-4.7
-5.6
Other securities
-2.5
1.7
6.7
15.8
1.7
1.9
12.7
14.7
4.6
7.7
18.4
18.5
Loans
Business loans
1/ Annual rates of change have been adjusted for definitional shifts
of participation certificates and balances accumulated for payment of
personal loans.
2/ Preliminary.
Preliminary data from the November 30 Survey of the maturity
structure of outstanding large denomination negotiable CD's indicate
that banks face a record $5.5 billion of maturities in December--$300
million higher than the former record level established this past
September.
In addition, January maturities at the end of November were
already scheduled to be $3.5 billion, a very high level as compared with
similar periods for other survey dates.
MATURITY DISTRIBUTION OF OUTSTANDING
NEGOTIABLE TIME CERTIFICATES OF DEPOSIT-1/
Weekly Reporting Banks
November 30, 1966
Amount
CD's maturing in:
Amount
S(millions of dollars)
Sales since
Cumulative
Cumulative
percentage
previous month
(millions of dollars)
1966 - December
5,547
35.9
2,064
1967 - January
February
3,472
1,529
58.4
68.3
1,146
623
March
April
1,143
913
75.7
81.6
171
118
May or later
2,847
100.0
551
1/ Includes only certificates in denominations of $100,000 or more issued
by weekly reporting banks.
November CD sales were almost $4.7 billion--the largest
amount since the monthly survey began at midyear--almost $700 million
more than in July and August.
Sales were particularly large at banks
outside of New York and Chicago; in fact, outstandings were unchanged
at these banks, during November, while New York City banks--despite
large sales--lost almost $400 million of CD's, and Chicago banks had
about a $30 million runoff.
A little less than 70 per cent of the CD's sold in November
mature within 2 months after the survey date--6 percentage points above
September and October.
These data suggest that the lower level of
market yields on very short-term instruments--such as the 30-day Treasury
bill--permitted banks to reduce their outflow by selling CD's in the
under 90-day, and mainly under 60-day, market.
Regulation Q ceilings
and market yields on 90-day instruments continued to make it difficult
for banks to sell longer-term CD's in any volume.
Also, demand for
December paper for tax and dividend purposes increased bank sales of
short-term CD's.
New York banks continued to sell relatively more shorter-term
CD's than other banks, but relatively no more than the previous 2 months.
On a preliminary basis, the average maturity of outstanding CD's is
expected to change little in November at all reporting banks.
About
68 per cent of outstandings at all banks--and 73 per cent at New York
banks--will mature in 3 months after the survey date (February), little
different than the maturity structure indicated in the October survey
for a similar period.
Corrections and notes:
1.
Page 1-4, line 6 under Bank credit and deposits, delete
2.
Page 11-5, personal consumption services projected for
"than".
the Q IV should read $196.0 billion, not $186.0.
-7-
3.
Page III-7, add at the end of the last paragraph before
the section on Corporate and municipal bond markets, "The net decline
was followed in the first week of December by an inflow of $510 million,
more than offsetting the outflow in the previous 3 weeks."
Proposed 1967 meeting dates for Federal Open Market Committee
Proposed 1967 meeting dates for Federal Open Market Committee
Number of weeks
following
preceding meeting
Greenbook date
FOMC proposed
meeting date
January 5
January 10
February 1
February 7
March 1
March 7*
March 29
April 4
April 26
May 2
May 17
May 23
June 14
June 20
July 12
July 18
August 9
August 15
September 6
September 12
September 27
October 3
October 18
October 24
November 8 or 15**
November 14 or 21**
3 or 4
December 6
December 12
4 or 3
* - Organization meeting.
**- November 14 has a disadvantage as an FOMC meeting date in that
the preceding Friday is a holiday for Federal employees (since
Veterans' Day, November 11, falls on a Saturday). However, under
the by-laws of the Federal Advisory Council, the Council would
normally meet with the Board on November 21. It is planned to
ask the Council at its organization meeting in February whether
they would be agreeable to shifting their November meeting date
from the 21st to the 14th.
Cite this document
APA
Federal Reserve (1966, December 12). Greenbook/Tealbook. Greenbooks, Federal Reserve. https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/greenbook_19661213_part1
BibTeX
@misc{wtfs_greenbook_19661213_part1,
author = {Federal Reserve},
title = {Greenbook/Tealbook},
year = {1966},
month = {Dec},
howpublished = {Greenbooks, Federal Reserve},
url = {https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/greenbook_19661213_part1},
note = {Retrieved via When the Fed Speaks corpus}
}