The end of tax season caused big changes in the financial system. This affected how the Federal Reserve handles its money.
Banks and money-market funds got ready for lots of people taking money out for taxes. This made a big drop in the cash that banks keep at the Fed. It was the biggest drop in money-fund outflows since 2008. During this time, banks started using the Fed’s discount window more. This shows they were trying to get more cash to deal with the money going out because of taxes.
The changes in how much money goes out during tax season are closely watched. This is because it can mess up how the financial system works, especially as the Fed tries to reduce the amount of money in the system.
Changes in Reserves and Funding Markets
The Federal Reserve said that bank reserves went down a lot, the biggest drop since April 2022. This makes reserves closer to low levels, so people are talking about maybe needing to change how much money is taken out of the economy.
At the same time, more banks borrowed money from the discount window than they have since May 2023. This shows that banks want more money to work with.
Money-market funds, where people invest their money, had a big decrease in the amount of money in them, especially from big investors. This matches up with the total corporate taxes collected during the same time. These changes show how careful the Fed has to be in managing how much money is in the market and how it works.
What Are The Preferred Stocks of The Dealers?
Among these changes, dealers have been holding onto Treasury bills more than ever before. This increase is mainly because fewer short-term government securities are being issued, and big investors are taking their money out of money-market funds. It seems like investment funds are selling Treasury bills on purpose to deal with people taking money out for tax reasons.
At the same time, big banks like Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and JPMorgan are either issuing new preferred shares or paying back old ones. This is happening because banks are not expecting the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates anymore.
All of this activity shows that banks are thinking carefully about how much preferred stocks cost, especially with interest rates staying high for a long time. It’s a sign that U.S. banks are actively managing their money to make sure they have enough capital.
