Go to the St. Louis Federal Reserve FRED database. Present data/information from 2017 (no earlier than 2016). Find data on the three-month treasury bill rate (TB3MS), the three-month AA non-financial commercial paper rate (CPN3M), the 30-year treasury bond rate (GS30), the 30-year conventional mortgage rate (MORTG), and the NBER recession indicators (USREC).
QUESTIONS
a. In general, how do these interest rates behave during recessions and during expansionary periods?
b. In general, how do the three-month rates compare to the 30-year rates? How do the treasury rates compare to the respective commercial paper and mortgage rates?
c. For the most recent available month of data, take the average of each of the three-month rates and compare it to the average of the three-month rates from January 2000. How do the averages compare?
d. For the most recent available month of data, take the average of each of the 30-year rates and compare it to the average of the 30-year rates from January 2000. How do the averages compare?