Forward policy guidance The conventional tool of U.S. monetary policy is to make adjustments to the target for the federal funds rate. That target, which stood at 5-1/4 percent as of mid-2007, was subsequently brought down to a range of 0 to 1/4 percent, and the effective federal funds rate has been maintained in that range since December 2008.
Since that time, the FOMC has provided forward guidance about the anticipated future path of the federal funds rate.