Dot plot
Also called Summary of Economic Projections, SEP
A chart in which each FOMC participant places one dot at the year-end policy rate they think appropriate.
How is the dot plot read?
The dot plot comes with the Summary of Economic Projections at the March, June, September and December meetings. Years run along the bottom, the rate up the side, and each dot is one participant's projection.
The median dot is read as the committee's broad expected path. It is a projection, not a promise, and it changes from meeting to meeting.
Whalegun's FOMC page lays out the latest dot plot by year.
See it on Whalegun
More terms in this area
- FOMCThe Federal Reserve body that sets the policy rate; it holds eight scheduled meetings a year.
- Federal funds rateThe rate at which US banks lend each other overnight money; the Fed sets a target range for it, and that range is the US policy rate.
- Consumer Price IndexAn index of the prices urban US consumers pay for goods and services, published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- PCE price indexThe personal consumption expenditures price index, published monthly by the Bureau of Economic Analysis; the Fed's 2% inflation goal is set on it.
- Jobs reportThe Bureau of Labor Statistics report, usually released on the first Friday of the month, with the change in nonfarm payrolls and the unemployment rate.
- US Treasury yieldsThe yields on US government debt, quoted by maturity: the 2-year, the 10-year and others.