_____________________________________________________________________________________________ Page 1 Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee January 26–27, 2021 A joint meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee Ann E. Misback, Secretary, Office of the Secretary, and the Board of Governors was held by videoconfer- Board of Governors ence on Tuesday, January 26, 2021, at 1:00 p.m. and con- tinued on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, at 9:00 a.m.1 Matthew J. Eichner,2 Director, Division of Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems, Board of PRESENT: Governors; Michael S. Gibson, Director, Division Jerome H. Powell, Chair of Supervision and Regulation, Board of John C. Williams, Vice Chair Governors; Andreas Lehnert, Director, Division of Thomas I. Barkin Financial Stability, Board of Governors Raphael W. Bostic Michelle W. Bowman Daniel M. Covitz, Deputy Director, Division of Lael Brainard Research and Statistics, Board of Governors; Sally Richard H. Clarida Davies, Deputy Director, Division of International Mary C. Daly Finance, Board of Governors; Michael T. Kiley, Charles L. Evans Deputy Director, Division of Financial Stability, Randal K. Quarles Board of Governors Christopher J. Waller Jon Faust, Senior Special Adviser to the Chair, Division James Bullard, Esther L. George, Loretta J. Mester, of Board Members, Board of Governors Helen E. Mucciolo, and Eric Rosengren, Alternate Members of the Federal Open Market Committee Joshua Gallin, Special Adviser to the Chair, Division of Board Members, Board of Governors Patrick Harker, Robert S. Kaplan, and Neel Kashkari, Presidents of the Federal Reserve Banks of William F. Bassett, Antulio N. Bomfim, Wendy E. Philadelphia, Dallas, and Minneapolis, respectively Dunn, Burcu Duygan-Bump, Jane E. Ihrig, Kurt F. Lewis, and Chiara Scotti, Special Advisers to the James A. Clouse, Secretary Board, Division of Board Members, Board of Matthew M. Luecke, Deputy Secretary Governors Michelle A. Smith, Assistant Secretary Mark E. Van Der Weide, General Counsel John J. Stevens, Senior Associate Director, Division of Michael Held, Deputy General Counsel Research and Statistics, Board of Governors; Trevor A. Reeve, Economist Gretchen C. Weinbach, Senior Associate Director, Stacey Tevlin, Economist Division of Monetary Affairs, Board of Governors Beth Anne Wilson, Economist Ellen E. Meade and Robert J. Tetlow, Senior Advisers, Shaghil Ahmed, David Altig, Kartik B. Athreya, Brian Division of Monetary Affairs, Board of Governors; M. Doyle, Rochelle M. Edge, Eric M. Engen, Steven A. Sharpe, Senior Adviser, Division of Beverly Hirtle, and William Wascher, Associate Research and Statistics, Board of Governors Economists Marnie Gillis DeBoer and Min Wei, Associate Lorie K. Logan, Manager, System Open Market Directors, Division of Monetary Affairs, Board of Account Governors; Andrew Figura, Associate Director, Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Patricia Zobel, Deputy Manager, System Open Market Governors Account 1 The Federal Open Market Committee is referenced as the 2 Attended through the discussion of developments in finan- “FOMC” and the “Committee” in these minutes. cial markets and open market operations. _____________________________________________________________________________________________Page 2 Federal Open Market Committee Eric C. Engstrom, Deputy Associate Director, Division Andrew Foerster, Research Advisor, Federal Reserve of Monetary Affairs, Board of Governors; Jeffrey Bank of San Francisco D. Walker,2 Deputy Associate Director, Division of Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems, Annual Organizational Matters3 Board of Governors The agenda for this meeting reported that advices of the election of the following members and alternate mem- Jennifer Gallagher, Special Assistant to the Board, bers of the Federal Open Market Committee for a term Division of Board Members, Board of Governors beginning January 26, 2021, were received and that these individuals executed their oaths of office. Brian J. Bonis, Assistant Director, Division of The elected members and alternate members were as fol- Monetary Affairs, Board of Governors lows: Penelope A. Beattie, Section Chief, Office of the John C. Williams, President of the Federal Reserve Bank Secretary, Board of Governors of New York, with Helen E. Mucciolo, First Vice Presi- dent of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as alter- Mark A. Carlson, Senior Economic Project Manager, nate Division of Monetary Affairs, Board of Governors Thomas I. Barkin, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, with Eric Rosengren, President of David H. Small, Project Manager, Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, as alternate Monetary Affairs, Board of Governors Charles L. Evans, President of the Federal Reserve Bank Michele Cavallo, Olesya Grishchenko, Horacio Sapriza, of Chicago, with Loretta J. Mester, President of the Fed- and Fabian Winkler, Principal Economists, eral Reserve Bank of Cleveland, as alternate Division of Monetary Affairs, Board of Governors; Raphael W. Bostic, President of the Federal Reserve Pablo Cuba-Borda, Principal Economist, Division Bank of Atlanta, with James Bullard, President of the of International Finance, Board of Governors; Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, as alternate Andrew Paciorek, Principal Economist, Division of Research and Statistics, Board of Governors Mary C. Daly, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, with Esther L. George, President of the Randall A. Williams, Lead Information Manager, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, as alternate Division of Monetary Affairs, Board of Governors By unanimous vote, the following officers of the Com- mittee were selected to serve until the selection of their Joseph W. Gruber, Daleep Singh, and Ellis W. Tallman, successors at the first regularly scheduled meeting of the Executive Vice Presidents, Federal Reserve Banks Committee in 2022: of Kansas City, New York, and Cleveland, respectively Jerome H. Powell Chair John C. Williams Vice Chair David Andolfatto, Spencer Krane, Keith Sill, and Mark James A. Clouse Secretary L.J. Wright, Senior Vice Presidents, Federal Matthew M. Luecke Deputy Secretary Reserve Banks of St. Louis, Chicago, Philadelphia, Michelle A. Smith Assistant Secretary and Minneapolis, respectively Mark E. Van Der Weide General Counsel Michael Held Deputy General Counsel Joe Peek, Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of Richard M. Ashton Assistant General Counsel Boston Trevor Reeve Economist Stacey Tevlin Economist James Dolmas, Economic Policy Advisor and Senior Beth Anne Wilson Economist Research Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas 3 Committee organizational documents are available at www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/rules_authoriza- tions.htm. _____________________________________________________________________________________________Minutes of the Meeting of January 26–27, 2021 Page 3 Shaghil Ahmed States, that are eligible for purchase or sale under Sec- David Altig tion 14(b) of the Federal Reserve Act (“Eligible Secu- Kartik B. Athreya rities”) for the System Open Market Account Brian M. Doyle (“SOMA”): Rochelle M. Edge i. As an outright operation with securities dealers Eric M. Engen and foreign and international accounts maintained Beverly Hirtle at the Selected Bank: on a same-day or deferred de- Sylvain Leduc Anna Paulson livery basis (including such transactions as are com- William Wascher Associate Economists monly referred to as dollar rolls and coupon swaps) at market prices; or By unanimous vote, the Committee selected the Federal ii. As a temporary operation: on a same-day or Reserve Bank of New York to execute transactions for deferred delivery basis, to purchase such Eligible Se- the System Open Market Account (SOMA). curities subject to an agreement to resell (“repo By unanimous vote, the Committee selected Lorie K. transactions”) or to sell such Eligible Securities sub- Logan and Patricia Zobel to serve at the pleasure of the ject to an agreement to repurchase (“reverse repo Committee as manager and deputy manager of the transactions”) for a term of 65 business days or less, SOMA, respectively, on the understanding that these se- at rates that, unless otherwise authorized by the lections were subject to being satisfactory to the Federal Committee, are determined by competitive bidding, Reserve Bank of New York. after applying reasonable limitations on the volume Secretary’s note: The Federal Reserve Bank of of agreements with individual counterparties; New York subsequently sent advice that the B. To allow Eligible Securities in the SOMA to ma- manager and deputy manager selections indi- ture without replacement; cated previously were satisfactory. C. To exchange, at market prices, in connection By unanimous vote, the Committee voted to reaffirm with a Treasury auction, maturing Eligible Securities in without revision the Authorization for Domestic Open the SOMA with the Treasury, in the case of Eligible Market Operations, the Authorization for Foreign Cur- Securities that are direct obligations of the United rency Operations, and the Foreign Currency Directive, States or that are fully guaranteed as to principal and as shown below. The Guidelines for the Conduct of interest by the United States; and System Open Market Operations in Federal-Agency Is- D. To exchange, at market prices, maturing Eligible sues remained suspended. Securities in the SOMA with an agency of the United States, in the case of Eligible Securities that are direct AUTHORIZATION FOR DOMESTIC OPEN obligations