Federal Reserve officials gave their chairwoman Janet Yellen the authority to expand an experimental program run by the New York Fed, which is designed to give the central bank better control over short-term interest rates, minutes from the central bank's January meeting revealed.
据美国联邦储备委员会(Federal Reserve, 简称：美联储) 1月份会议纪要显示，美联储官员给予主席耶伦(Janet Yellen)扩大由纽约联储执行的一项试点计划规模的权力，该计划旨在使美联储更好地掌控短期利率。
The program is called an overnight fixed-rate reverse repurchase facility. Under the program, which the Fed started in September, the Fed lends bonds from its large holdings of Treasury securities in exchange for cash from eligible financial firms. Policymakers can change the interest rate offered on this tool, effectively setting a floor for short-term interest rates.
根据这项名为隔夜固息逆回购工具的计划，美联储从所持大规模国债中借出债券以置换具备资质的金融机构手中的现金。该计划是在去年9月份启动的。决策者可以调整这项工具的利率报价，实际上也就给短期利率设定了最低基准。
Market participants have been watching this program closely because it could be an important tool used by the Fed when it eventually starts raising short-term interest rates.
市场人士密切关注这项计划，因为这是美联储最终开始上调短期利率时可能使用的一项重要工具。
The Fed announced at the conclusion of its January policy meeting that officials voted to extend the program by another year and raise the limit on how much business banks and other trading partners could do with the facility each day to $5 billion each, up from $3 billion. The release noted that officials expected that allotment cap to increase further in coming months. The New York Fed is authorized to set a rate on these transactions between zero and 0.05%.
美联储在1月份政策会议结束后宣布，官员们投票同意将隔夜固息逆回购工具再延长一年，并将各商业银行及其他交易对手使用该工具的每日规模上限从30亿美元提高至50亿美元。会议声明指出，官员们预计配额上限将会在未来几个月进一步上调。纽约联储获授权将此类交易的利率设定在0-0.05%之间。
Minutes from the Fed's Jan. 28-29 meeting suggested the Fed saw a significant expansion over time to potentially unlimited size and gave Ms. Yellen wide berth to make decisions about how to run it. Ms. Yellen was sworn in as chairwoman Feb. 1.
美联储1月28-29日会议纪要显示，美联储预计随着时间推移会逐步大幅扩大该计划规模且未设定上限，并且就如何运作该计划赋予耶伦广泛的空间。
'The Chair of the FOMC would authorize any changes in the offered rate or per-counterparty bid limit. Adjustments to the bid limit would be made in gradual steps, and the Committee would be consulted before the exercise would move to full allotment,' the minutes said.
会议纪要称，联邦公开市场委员会(FOMC)主席将批准对上述计划的利率报价或各交易对手竞价上限的调整。对竞价上限的调整将是逐步进行的，FOMC将在进行全面分配前进行商议。
This discretion appears to have led two officials--Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher and Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser--to vote against the changes to the program. The duo 'dissented because of their preference for retaining a cap on the maximum size of counterparties' offers during the extension,' the minutes said. Mr. Plosser also wanted a shorter extension. Mr. Fisher and Mr. Plosser declined through spokespeople to elaborate on their reasons for objecting to the program changes.
这似乎导致了两名美联储官员――达拉斯联储行长Richard Fisher和费城联储行长Charles Plosser――投票反对该计划。会议纪要称，这两位官员倾向于在该计划扩大过程中保留交易对手竞购规模的上限。这两人不愿通过发言人就反对该计划调整的原因进行详述。
It was unclear from the minutes whether Fed officials would have to vote to completely eliminate the cap on bid size or merely be given a chance to discuss the move. A Fed spokeswoman declined to comment. If the Fed were to use the facility to manage short-term rates, there would be no limit on how much a trading partner could lend the Fed as the program is envisioned.
会议纪要没有明确指出美联储官员究竟是需要就完全取消竞购规模上限进行投票，还是只是为了获得一个研究相关问题的机会。美联储发言人拒绝就此置评。如果美联储通过该工具来管理短期利率，那么根据该计划的构想交易对手向美联储借出的资金可能就没有上限。
Most Fed officials aren't in a hurry to raise short-term rates, but the decision to loosen the constraints on the testing of it underscore how promising many Fed officials see in the tool. It could potentially allow the Fed to control interest rates without having to drain the trillions of dollars of reserves in the banking that would need to be removed to pinpoint precisely manage the level of the fed funds rate, the traditional lever by which the central bank has managed short-term rates and which moves in relation to bank reserves.
虽然多数美联储官员并不急于上调短期利率，但放宽上述计划的限制凸显出许多美联储官员对这项工具寄予的希望。这么做或能使美联储在不需要从银行业回笼数万亿美元准备金的情况下来控制利率。