Fed reserves fell $88.2B on quarter end; weekly average rose

Federal Reserve H.4.1 data recorded bank reserve balances at $2.969922 trillion on Sept. 23 and $2.881686 trillion on Sept. 30, a decline of $88.236 billion on the Wednesday snapshots. The weekly-average reserve series rose from $2.930193 trillion to $2.948090 trillion over the comparable weeks, an increase of $17.897 billion.

The Treasury General Account (TGA) moved in the opposite direction across the same measurement windows. The TGA Wednesday balance rose $36.729 billion to $984.046 billion, while its weekly average fell $28.410 billion to $948.674 billion.

The H.4.1 accounting bridge reconciled the $88.236 billion decline in reserves between the two Wednesday observations. Factors supplying reserves fell $4.650 billion and factors absorbing funds outside reserve balances rose $83.586 billion. Total overnight reverse repurchase agreements increased $41.158 billion to $361.883 billion.

Most of the reverse-repo balance was attributed to foreign official and international accounts, which rose $30.080 billion to $350.344 billion. The domestic “other” counterparties category rose $11.078 billion to $11.539 billion. Currency in circulation increased $373 million, other non-reserve deposits rose $3.001 billion, and other liabilities and capital increased $2.317 billion. A separate Treasury cash-holdings line rose $8 million.

On the supplying side, outright securities declined $6.491 billion. Repo agreements and loans increased by $1.199 billion and $2.493 billion, respectively. Within securities, mortgage-backed securities fell $12.320 billion while Treasury securities rose $5.829 billion. The consolidated Federal Reserve balance sheet reported a $4.673 billion decline in total assets.

Funding-price measures for Sept. 30 showed the New York Fed’s Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) median at 3.90%, equal to the Fed’s interest on reserve balances. The five latest observed SOFR medians ranged from 3.88% to 3.90%. The 99th-percentile SOFR on Sept. 30 was 3.99% on about $3.23 trillion of underlying transactions.

The H.4.1 release recorded $1.2 billion of outstanding repo agreements on Sept. 30. The daily repo-purchase series separately recorded $1.2 billion that day and zero purchases on Oct. 1. The standing repo facility terms specify a 4.00% rate, two daily operation windows and a $40 billion limit per eligible counterparty per eligible security type; eligibility requirements apply to counterparties and collateral.

On Oct. 1, domestic overnight reverse-repo usage reported in the Fed’s daily data fell from $11.539 billion to $350 million. The Oct. 1 SOFR observation was not included in the early Oct. 2 snapshot referenced in the H.4.1 release.

The H.4.1 data and related funding rates provide the federal accounting entries, counterparty breakdowns and market rates for the period covering the Sept. 23 and Sept. 30 Wednesday snapshots and the adjacent weekly averages. Further dated market funding data would be required to trace specific financing flows at the instrument or exchange level over the same window.