Media FAQs

President Charles I. Plosser

How do I get an interview with Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser?

Contact Lead Media Advisor Marilyn Wimp with your interview request.

How can I find out when President Plosser is giving a public speech?

A list of upcoming speeches is posted on our online newsroom under speeches.

What do I have to do in order to attend the speeches?

Contact Marilyn Wimp for details. Registration may vary depending on the host organization.

Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)

When will President Plosser be a voting member of the FOMC?

President Plosser will be a voting member in 2008 and will not vote again until 2011. The New York Federal Reserve Bank president votes every year, the Chicago and Cleveland Federal Reserve presidents vote every other year, and the remaining nine Reserve Bank presidents vote every third year on a rotating basis. Nonvoting Reserve Bank presidents attend the meetings of the Committee, participate in the discussions, and contribute to the Committee's assessment of the economy and policy options. For more information see: http://www.federalreserve.gov/fomc/ .

When is the next FOMC meeting?

The FOMC holds eight regularly scheduled meetings a year. At these meetings, the Committee reviews economic and financial conditions, determines the appropriate stance of monetary policy, and assesses the risks to its long-run goals of price stability and sustainable economic growth. To find out when the next FOMC meeting is, see the Board of Governors’ website . Past minutes and transcripts of the meetings are also available.

The Economy

Who is the best person to interview about the regional labor market?

Senior Economic Analyst Tim Schiller can provide commentary about the regional labor market. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics  has statistics for the region and the nation.

What is a diffusion index?

Diffusion indexes are used in the Philadelphia Fed’s Business Outlook Survey, as well as in the South Jersey Business Survey. They represent the percentage of participants indicating an increase (in activity, employment, orders, etc.) from the previous month minus the percentage of survey participants indicating a decrease.

Why are delivery times included in the Business Outlook Survey and used to compile the leading indexes?

Delivery times are a good indicator of the economy’s strength because they lengthen when orders for goods increase and shorten when orders decrease. Thus, longer delivery times indicate that the economy's pace of growth is quickening, and shorter delivery times point to a slower moving economy.

What is the Beige Book?

The Beige Book  is a report published eight times a year. Each Federal Reserve Bank gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions in its District through reports from Bank and Branch directors and interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources. The Beige Book summarizes this information by District and sector. An overall summary of the 12 District reports is prepared by a designated Federal Reserve Bank on a rotating basis.

What are the 50-state indexes?

Each month the Philadelphia Fed releases economic or coincident indexes that measure the economies in each of the 50 states. The indexes are composites of three monthly economic indicators (nonfarm employment, the unemployment rate, and average hours worked in manufacturing) and one quarterly indicator (wages and salaries). The indexes are constructed using a variation of a model designed by economists James Stock and Mark Watson.

Does the Bank report about economic conditions in its District?

Yes. Coincident indexes for the three states in the Third District are the same as those for the 50-state indexes. But because the Philadelphia Fed covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, we publish more detailed press releases for those three states.

Does the Bank provide forecasts for the economies in these states?

Yes. Every month the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia releases leading indexes for Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The leading index is a forecast of the coincident index in nine months or the growth rate in the state economies. The leading indexes are a composite of several variables, including the economic activity index for each state, initial unemployment claims, housing permits, vendor delivery times, and the yield on 10-year Treasury bonds minus the fed funds rate.

Does the Bank conduct surveys about the national economy?

Yes. The Survey of Professional Forecasters is a quarterly survey of macroeconomic forecasters in the United States. More than 45 professional forecasters from across the country participate in the survey. They are asked for their expectations about many variables, including gross domestic product (GDP), chain-weighted price index, corporate profits after tax, civilian unemployment rate, industrial production index, housing starts, consumer price index, treasury bill rate, three-month, secondary market rate, discount basis, AAA corporate bond yield, and Moody’s Treasury bond rate, 10-year-constant-maturity, secondary market rate.

Where do I find information about the Survey of Professional Forecasters and whom can I contact for an interview?

The spokesperson for the Survey of Professional Forecasters is Tom Stark, manager in the Bank’s research department. Interview requests can be forwarded to Katherine Q. Dibling at 215-574-4119. In addition, you may listen to a pre-recorded interview with Mr. Stark. The interview is posted on our website at the same time as the release each quarter.

Why add core CPI and core and headline PCE to the survey?

Core CPI, and core and headline PCE were added to make the survey a more useful tool for assessing what the professional forecasters think about the outlook for inflation.

What is the difference between core and headline variables?

Core variables exclude food and energy because their prices are volatile and that can mean a loss of perspective for analysts charting the direction of inflation trends.

What is the anxious index?

The anxious index is the probability of a decline in real GDP in the quarter after a survey is taken. The term was first used by New York Times reporter David Leonhardt in an article on September 1, 2002. The survey asks panelists to estimate the probability that real GDP will decline in the quarter in which the survey is taken and in each of the following four quarters. The index often goes up just before recessions begin. The anxious index peaks during recessions, then declines when recovery seems near.

What is the Livingston Survey?

The Livingston Survey was started in 1946 by the late columnist Joseph Livingston. It is the oldest continuous survey of economists' expectations. Every June and December, survey participants are asked to provide forecasts for a set of key macroeconomic variables at the end of the current month, six months ahead, and 12 months ahead. They also provide forecasts for the current calendar year, and the following calendar year. In the December survey, they provide forecasts for the calendar year after next.

Banking Industry

Where can I find out if a bank has an enforcement action against it?

Generally, the Federal Reserve takes formal enforcement actions against state member banks and bank holding companies for violations of laws, rules, or regulations, unsafe or unsound practices, breaches of fiduciary duty, and violations of final orders. Formal enforcement actions are made public through a press release that includes a copy of the order or agreement. Formal enforcement actions  include cease-and-desist orders, written agreements, removal and prohibition orders, and orders assessing civil money penalties. Copies of these dating back to August 1989 are available on the Board of Governors’ website.

Where can I find information on mergers, new charters, and bank failures?

Historical statistics dating back to 1990 are available from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s website on new charters, mergers, and bank failures. Statistics on the latest quarterly data  for FDIC-insured institutions are also available. 

What is the Federal Reserve's minority-owned and de novo program for banks?

Partnership for Progress is a national outreach and technical assistance program for minority-owned and de novo financial institutions. It is intended to help guide them through the chartering process, as well as assist them as they manage initial growth and continue to expand in order to increase shareholder value. The program offers one-on-one guidance, workshops, and an interactive web-based resource and information center. The program's development team was led by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, which will also continue to administer the program for the Federal Reserve System. For more information or interviews with Michael Collins, senior vice president of the Supervision, Regulation and Credit Department and chairman of Partnership for Progress, or Rob Tillman, program manager, contact Marilyn Wimp at 215-574-4197.

How many minority-owned financial institutions are there?

Nationally, there are about 215 minority-owned depository institutions serving a broad range of communities and populations. The Federal Reserve has supervisory responsibility over approximately 120 bank holding companies that have minority-owned depository subsidiaries and supervises approximately 20 minority-owned institutions. Partnership for Progress is a program that provides assistance to these financial institutions. It offers one-on-one guidance, workshops, and an interactive web-based resource and information center.

How many de novo banks, or new charters, are there?

Banks are considered de novo institutions through their fifth year of operation. The banking industry experienced a recent upswing in de novo bank formations. In 2006, 148 stand-alone de novo banks were chartered across the nation, the highest level since 1999, when there were 181, and the third highest level since 1985, when there were 206. For more information about de novo banks, see the third quarter 2007 issue of the Supervision, Regulation and Credit Department's Insights.

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

How many employees does the Philadelphia Fed have?

We employ about 1,100 people.  

How many checks does the Philadelphia Fed process daily?

Our check processing volume averages about 5.6 million checks each day. 

How many employees currently work in the Retail Payments (Checks) Department at the Philadelphia Fed?

The Philadelphia Fed currently has 255 employees in its Retail Payments Department. These employees process both commercial and government checks and handle check adjustments and other support services for our customers nationwide.  

How much cash does the Philadelphia Fed process daily?

We process about 8 million notes using six high-speed machines that detect fit, unfit, and counterfeit notes. 

How much money does the Philadelphia Fed have in its vault?

The Philadelphia Fed has two cash vaults – one for currency and one for coin – each the size of a football field. On an average day, the vaults hold between $5 billion and $8 billion in currency and $50 million in coin. The Philadelphia Fed provides cash services for 300 financial institutions and their branches in its District, which includes eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware.

How much money does the Philadelphia Fed shred?

On average, 15 to 20 percent of all notes we count get shredded, which is about $100 million on a weekly basis.

Currency

I heard on the news that some of the new $5 bills were misprinted with 2006. Is that true and is the $5 bill dated 2006 being recalled?

No. Many rumors are circulating about the new $5 bill being a valuable misprint. The colorized 2006 series $5 bill was printed correctly and is not being recalled by the federal government. The series year on paper money does not coincide with the year that it was printed but relates to a major redesign or the appointment of a new Treasury secretary. Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. was appointed to the Department of the Treasury in 2006. The new colorized $5 bill bears his signature as well as the year that he was appointed to office.

There have been several redesigns of the U.S. currency. What is in the works now?

In March 2008, the redesigned $5 went into circulation. The most recent currency redesigns began with the introduction of the new $20 in 2003, the $50 in 2004, and the $10 in 2006. The $100 note will also be redesigned. The $1 and $2 will not be redesigned.

Why are we redesigning the currency?

To stay ahead of counterfeiting.  The $5 note is the lowest denomination U.S. note with both a watermark and a security thread. We are redesigning the $5 note because some counterfeiters have used the note to create higher denomination counterfeits.

Does the severity of counterfeiting warrant the money that is being spent on the redesigns?

While counterfeiting is not a significant economic problem overall, when a person or business accepts a counterfeit bill, it is a real loss to them. By continuously evaluating counterfeit threats across all denominations, introducing new designs and incorporating new security features, the government stays ahead of currency counterfeiting.

How many $5 bills are in circulation?

There are about 2 billion $5 bills in circulation and about nine percent of all paper currency produced  by the U.S. Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) today are $5 bills.

Is the $5 similar in design to the new $20, $50, and $10?

Similar to the other redesigned bills, the $5 bill will have security and design features specific to its denomination. The security features such as the watermark and security threads make it easy for consumers to check their money and the design features such as the inclusion of color make it more burdensome for counterfeiters to reproduce, as well as make the currency attractive.