This paper revisits the yield spread's usefulness for predicting future real GDP growth. We show that the contribution of the spread can be decomposed into the effect of expected future changes in short rates and the effect of the term premium. We find that both factors are relevant for...

We find that the composite leading index (CLI) is useful forforecasting GNP, both in sample and in an out-of-sample real-time exercise. We propose a nonlinear specification in which cyclical shifts of the CLI precede those in GNP. However, we find that better forecasts are provided by a simple...

This paper explores the properties of daily changes in the prices for near-term fed funds futures contracts. The paper finds these contracts to be excellent predictors of the fed funds rate, and shows that the claim of a nonzero term premium in the short-horizon contracts is more sensitive to...

This paper develops a generalization of the formulas proposed by Kuttner (2001) and others for purposes of measuring the effects of a change in the fed funds target on Treasury yields of different maturities. The generalization avoids the need to condition on the date of the target change and...

This paper reports overwhelming evidence against the hypothesis that the federal funds rate follows a martingale over the 2-week reserve maintenance period, establishing that banks do not regard reserves held on different days of the week to be perfect substitutes. A theoretical model of the...