the.com/fed
The central bank that moves markets by changing a number almost nobody understands.
means Short for the Federal Reserve, the United States' central bank, which sets interest rates and manages the money supply.
from Simply a clipping of 'Federal' from 'Federal Reserve System,' the US central banking system established by an Act of Congress in 1913. 'Fed' as shorthand (and for an employee of a federal agency, like an FBI agent) followed naturally from American English's habit of chopping long institutional names down to size.
- full name
- Federal Reserve, founded 1913
- real power
- sets interest rates, not actual currency printing
- structure
- privately owned regional banks, publicly appointed chair
- nickname origin
- slang for federal agent predates central bank usage