Assignment

T-Bill and Commercial Paper rate Spread.

1. Go online and search for StLouisfed (you can search for StLouisfed or FredII). This site has very important Federal economic data.

2. In the Search window (top right), Search for 3-month T-Bill secondary market rate

3. Change the date to include data from January 2000 to present

4. Change the frequency of the data to Monthly

5. Download the data into an Excel file.

6. Repeat the process to download 90-day AA Commercial Paper Rate

7. Merge the two sets of data, ensuring that the dates are the same

8. Graph the rates in an Excel spreadsheet to show the spread between the T-Bill and the Commercial paper rate

9. Make sure the charts are clearly labeled with a title, axis label and a legend.

Question

Based on our discussion in class and information from any other sources, discuss the changes in the spread, and with emphasis on the different economic cycles in the United States.