Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration  

Release: Spot Prices  

Units:  Dollars per Barrel, Not Seasonally Adjusted

Frequency:  Monthly

Definitions, Sources and Explanatory Notes:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/TblDefs/pet_pri_spt_tbldef2.asp

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis  

Release: Spliced Oil Price

Units:  Dollars per Barrel, Not Seasonally Adjusted

Frequency:  Monthly

This series was created by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis to expand the history of the monthly West Texas Intermediate oil price series in FRED. We simply combined these two FRED series: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/OILPRICE and https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MCOILWTICO. From January 1946 through July 2013, the series used is OILPRICE. From August 2013 to present, the series used is MCOILWTICO.

Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (US)  

Release: H.15 Selected Interest Rates  

Units:  Percent, Not Seasonally Adjusted

Frequency:  Daily, 7-Day

For additional historical federal funds rate data, please see Daily Federal Funds Rate from 1928-1954.

The federal funds rate is the interest rate at which depository institutions trade federal funds (balances held at Federal Reserve Banks) with each other overnight. When a depository institution has surplus balances in its reserve account, it lends to other banks in need of larger balances. In simpler terms, a bank with excess cash, which is often referred to as liquidity, will lend to another bank that needs to quickly raise liquidity. (1) The rate that the borrowing institution pays to the lending institution is determined between the two banks; the weighted average rate for all of these types of negotiations is called the effective federal funds rate.(2) The effective federal funds rate is essentially determined by the market but is influenced by the Federal Reserve as it uses the Interest on Reserve Balances rate to steer the federal funds rate toward the target range.(2)

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets eight times a year to determine the federal funds target range. The Fed's primary tool for influencing the federal funds rate is the interest the Fed pays on the funds that banks hold as reserve balances at their Federal Reserve Bank, which is the Interest on Reserves Balances (IORB) rate. Because banks are unlikely to lend funds in the federal funds market for less than they get paid in their reserve balance account at the Federal Reserve, the Interest on Reserve Balances (IORB) is an effective tool for guiding the federal funds rate. (3) Whether the Federal Reserve raises or lowers the target range for the federal funds rate depends on the state of the economy. If the FOMC believes the economy is growing too fast and inflation pressures are inconsistent with the dual mandate of the Federal Reserve, the Committee may temper economic activity by raising the target range for federal funds rate, and increasing the IORB rate to steer the federal funds rate into the target range. In the opposing scenario, the FOMC may spur greater economic activity by lowering the target range for federal funds rate, and decreasing the IORB rate to steer the federal funds rate into the target range. (3) Therefore, the FOMC must observe the current state of the economy to determine the best course of monetary policy that will maximize economic growth while adhering to the dual mandate set forth by Congress. In making its monetary policy decisions, the FOMC considers a wealth of economic data, such as: trends in prices and wages, employment, consumer spending and income, business investments, and foreign exchange markets.

The federal funds rate is the central interest rate in the U.S. financial market. It influences other interest rates such as the prime rate, which is the rate banks charge their customers with higher credit ratings. Additionally, the federal funds rate indirectly influences longer- term interest rates such as mortgages, loans, and savings, all of which are very important to consumer wealth and confidence.(2)

References
(1) Federal Reserve Bank of New York. "Federal funds." Fedpoints, August 2007.
(2) Monetary Policy, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
(3) The Fed Explained, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

For further information, see The Fed's New Monetary Policy Tools, Page One Economics, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

For questions on the data, please contact the data source. For questions on FRED functionality, please contact us here.

Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (US)  

Release: H.15 Selected Interest Rates  

Units:  Percent, Not Seasonally Adjusted

Frequency:  Monthly

Averages of business days. For further information regarding treasury constant maturity data, please refer to the H.15 Statistical Release notes and the Treasury Yield Curve Methodology.

For questions on the data, please contact the data source. For questions on FRED functionality, please contact us here.

Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (US)  

Release: G.5 Foreign Exchange Rates  

Units:  Index Mar 1973=100, Not Seasonally Adjusted

Frequency:  Monthly

Averages of daily figures. A weighted average of the foreign exchange value of the U.S. dollar against a subset of the broad index currencies that circulate widely outside the country of issue.
Major currency index includes the Euro Area, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia, and Sweden. For more information about trade-weighted indexes see http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/bulletin/2005/winter05_index.pdf.

This data series is updated from the source files in the Data Download Program (http://www.federalreserve.gov/datadownload/Choose.aspx?rel=h10). The files are updated on a weekly basis every Monday. If Monday is a holiday, the data files are updated the next business day.

Monthly values are averages of the daily data available. Preliminary value for the current month is provided by the source even if not all daily values are available for the entire month.

Please note that the values reported on the press release may not correspond to the values in the Data Download Program when the press release is published on a day other than Monday. This inconsistency is resolved on the next available weekly release date.