FOMC 等於 Federal “Open Mouth” Committee?

這是Business Insider的聯儲局Correspondent Pedro da Costa 在此文開的一個玩笑。

Fed officials are giving more speeches than ever but their message is still muddled

They don’t call it the Federal Open Mouth Committee for nothing. That’s the nickname traders have given to an increasingly vocal Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed’s policy-setting body. Over the years, the central bank has made considerable strides in improving transparency and communications, even if the cacophony of public pronouncements sometimes devolves into a range of competing policy messages that confuses more than clarifies.

在文中他引述德銀經濟師Torsten Sløk整理的數據，發現每年平均每名聯儲局官員發表公開演說的次數，在1996年時只為4次，但近年數字急升，Sløk指今年預期這平均數會升至14次，為歷來新高。

這個情況，相信與Ben Bernanke年代開始更為強調聯儲局與公眾的溝通，及官員在後QE年代更依賴使用演說作為Forward Guidance工具有關。