Revision To The Money Stock Data - Statistical Data Included

Federal Reserve Bulletin, April, 2001

Measures of the money stock aggregates and components were revised in February 2001 to incorporate the results of the annual benchmark and seasonal factor review. Data in table 1.10 and table 1.21 in the statistical appendix to the Federal Reserve Bulletin reflect these changes beginning with this issue. For 2000, the revisions raised the annual growth rate of M2 and M3 0.2 percentage point.

The benchmark incorporates revisions to vault cash that reflect a new estimation method for credit unions that do not file the Federal Reserve's deposit reports either weekly or quarterly. The revisions begin in April 1984, and the maximum absolute revision is $1 billion. The benchmark also incorporates revised historical data on the holdings of large time deposits by money market mutual funds, an item that is subtracted from gross large time deposits when calculating the large time deposit component of M3. These revisions begin in March 1980, and the maximum absolute revision is about $43 billion. The revised data also incorporate the receipt of historical information from other routine data flows.

Seasonally adjusted measures of the monetary stock and components also incorporate revised seasonal factors produced from benchmarked data through December 2000. The X-12-ARIMA procedure was used to derive monthly seasonal factors. The monthly and weekly seasonal factors were derived after excluding the estimated effects of the century date change. These adjustments were made to ensure that unusual movements around the century date change did not influence the estimated seasonal factors. The revisions to seasonal factors lowered M2 growth rates in the first two quarters of 2000 and raised them in the last two quarters. The revisions to seasonal factors also reduced the M3 growth rate in the first quarter of 2000 but increased growth in the final three quarters of the year.

Revised historical data are available in printed form from the Monetary and Reserve Analysis Section, Mail Stop 72, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC 20551. Phone: 202-452-3062. Complete historical data are released each week in the H.6 statistical release on the Board's web site (http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/). Current and historical data are also on the Economic Bulletin Board of the U.S. Department of Commerce. For paid electronic access to the bulletin board, call STAT-USA at 1-800-782-8872 or 202-482-1986.

The benchmark in February 2001 is the last at the annual frequency. Beginning in March 2001, benchmarks are conducted at a quarterly frequency in order to provide more timely updates of published data. The quarterly benchmark review incorporates revised historical data for depository institutions and money market mutual funds, data from the Call Reports filed by depository institutions, and data on money market mutual funds that began reporting data for the first time during the quarter.

The review of seasonal factors for the monetary aggregates will continue to be performed annually, with the results released in early February.