Working Paper Revision

Non-monetary news in Fed announcements: Evidence from the corporate bond market


Abstract: When the Federal Reserve tightens monetary policy, do the prices of riskier assets fall relative to safer assets? Or, do investors interpret policy tightening as a signal that economic fundamentals are stronger than they previously believed, thus leading riskier assets to outperform? We present evidence that the latter of these two forces empirically dominates within the U.S. corporate bond market. Following an unanticipated monetary policy tightening, riskier corporate bonds outperform safer corporate bonds, demonstrating the importance of an informational, or nonmonetary, component within monetary policy announcements.

JEL Classification: E40; E52; G12; G14;

https://doi.org/10.17016/FEDS.2021.010r1

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Provider: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.)

Part of Series: Finance and Economics Discussion Series

Publication Date: 2025-01-31

Number: 2021-010r1

Note: Revision

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