What Is the Beige Book? The Beige Book is a report produced and published by the Federal Reserve. The report, referred to formally as the Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions, is a qualitative review of economic conditions. The Beige Book is published eight times each year before meetings held by the Federal Open
What Is Belly Up? “Belly up” is an idiomatic expression in American English used to describe a business, organization, or institution that has ceased to exist or gone bankrupt. The phrase is a metaphor comparing the business in question to dead fish or another animal that has floated to the top of a body of
What Is Below Full Employment Equilibrium? Below full employment equilibrium is a macroeconomic term used to describe a situation where an economy’s short-run real gross domestic product (GDP) is lower than that same economy’s long-run potential real GDP. Under this scenario, there is a recessionary gap between the two levels of GDP (measured by the
What Is a Below-Market Interest Rate (BMIR)? A below-market interest rate (BMIR) is a rate that is below the prevailing commercial bank interest rate in effect at that time. Loans given under BMIR terms involve an interest rate below the applicable federal rate or may even involve no interest rate. A BMIR applies to a
What Is Below Par? Below par is a term describing a bond whose market price is trading below its face value or principal value, usually $1,000. Bonds are debt instruments that are usually issued by corporations and governments to raise money. When an investor purchases a bond, the price paid for it is called the
What Is Below-the-Line Advertising? Below-the-line advertising is an advertising strategy where products are promoted in media other than mainstream radio, television, billboards, print, and film formats. The main types of below-the-line advertising systems include direct mail campaigns, social media marketing, trade shows, catalogs, and targeted search engine marketing. Below-the-line advertising methods tend to be less expensive and
What Is Belt and Suspenders? In finance, “belt and suspenders” is a colloquial phrase used to describe conservative lending practices. It is based on the idea that wearing a belt and suspenders gives the user two redundant methods for holding up their pants. By analogy, cautious bankers will seek redundant layers of risk mitigation when
Ben Bernanke was the chair of the board of governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2014. Bernanke took over the helm from Alan Greenspan on Feb. 1, 2006, ending Greenspan’s 18-year leadership at the Fed. A former Fed governor, Bernanke was chair of the U.S. President’s Council of Economic Advisors prior to
What Is a Benchmark? A benchmark is a standard against which something is compared. Investors use benchmarks to measure the performance of securities, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, portfolios, or other investment instruments. Generally, broad market and market-segment stock and bond indexes are used for this purpose—even cryptocurrencies have benchmarks, hallmarking the importance of having something to compare
What Is a Benchmark Bond? A benchmark bond is a bond that provides a standard against which the performance of other bonds can be measured. Government bonds are almost always used as benchmark bonds such as on-the-run U.S. Treasuries. A benchmark bond is sometimes referred to as an example of a benchmark issue or bellwether
