Money Supply Figures on Target
As the Federal Reserve approaches a key policy-making meeting next week, the two measures of the money supply it watches most closely remain within the target ranges set for them, according to figures released yesterday.</br></br>The Fed reported that Ml, the measure of money that includes currency and travelers checks in circulation and checking deposits at financial institutions, rose $11.5 billion last month to an average level of $545.4 billion. The June increase meant that Ml is rising at an annual rate of about 7J/2 percent from its average in the fourth quarter of 1983. The FedÛªs target is to get growth of 4 percent to 8 percent between that quarter and the final three months of 1984.</br></br>M2, a broader measure that also includes savings and small time deposits, money market mutual fund shares and some other items, rose $13.7 billion to a level of $2,273 trillion. Its growth rate over the same period is 7.2 percent, slightly below the midpoint of its target range of 6 percent to 9 percent year-to-year growth.</br></br>target, M3, remained above the upper limit of its range. M3, wliich also includes large time deposits and other items, reached a level of $2,836 trillion, up $20.3 billion from the May level. [See Fed tables, D5]</br></br>Financial analysts remain divided over whether the Fed's policy-making group, the Federal Open Market Committee, can be expected to tighten credit conditions when it meets Monday and Tuesday. The major consideration likely will be the extent to which committee members believe the steps they have already taken this yearÛÓ which have helped boost interest rates substantiallyÛÓwill slow the pace of the economic expansion and keep inflation in check.