Fed Balance Sheet (H.4.1)
Federal Reserve weekly balance-sheet data · assets, liabilities, reserve balances, reverse repos & more
Data as of Aug 09, 2026 16:44 · next refresh Aug 10, 2026 16:44 · ↻ Refresh
🧮 Balance Sheet Identity
Assets must equal Liabilities + Capital. Items not in our cards are grouped as "Other".
- • Treasury Securities — —
- • MBS Holdings — —
- • Fed Loans (BTFP, etc.) — —
- • Other (Repos, swaps, premium, gold...) — —
- • Reserve Balances — —
- • Currency in Circulation — —
- • Treasury General Account — —
- • Overnight Reverse Repos — —
- • Other liab. + Capital (~$45B) — —
💡 Why it matters: Total Assets can drop while Treasuries rise — for example when the Fed lets repos roll off, swap lines unwind, or as QE-era bond premiums amortize. The "Other" lines capture these moves.
📚 What's in "Other Assets"?
The Fed's balance sheet has more line items than the cards above. The "Other Assets" total is the sum of everything we don't break out individually. Here's what's typically in it:
Repurchase Agreements
Fed lends cash overnight, takes Treasuries as collateral. Currently small (~$0–$50B), historically up to $500B.
Central Bank Liquidity Swaps
USD lent to foreign central banks (ECB, BoJ, BoE, SNB, BoC). Spikes during global dollar shortages.
Unamortized Premium on Securities
QE-era bonds bought above face value. Amortizes down each week (~$300–$400B currently).
Foreign Currency Assets
EUR, JPY, and other foreign currency holdings (~$20B).
Gold & SDR Certificates
Gold certificate account (~$11B) + SDR certificates (~$5B). Mostly historical, doesn't change.
Other Federal Reserve Assets
Accrued interest, premises (Fed offices), other items. Usually a few billion.
📜 U.S. Treasury Bills Outstanding
Total short-term Treasury bills issued market-wide (≤1 year maturity). NOT Fed-held — held by everyone (banks, MMFs, foreign investors, retail).
💡 Why it matters: Rapid growth in T-bills outstanding = Treasury financing more deficit short-term (cheaper but rate-sensitive). Money market funds absorb most of this supply.
🔍 Other Assets — Live Numbers
Selected line items inside the "Other Assets" bucket — Central Bank Liquidity Swaps (USD lent to foreign central banks), and the legacy Gold & SDR certificate accounts.
Central Bank Liquidity Swaps
USD lent to foreign central banks (ECB, BoJ, BoE, SNB, BoC). Spikes during global dollar shortages.
Gold Certificate Account
Treasury-issued certificates backed by U.S. gold reserves at $42.22/oz statutory price. Mostly historical — barely changes week-to-week.
SDR Certificate Account
Special Drawing Rights certificates issued by the Treasury against the IMF's reserve asset. Stable balance, rarely adjusted.
💡 Why it matters: Liquidity swaps spike when foreign banks struggle to fund USD assets — early-warning signal for global dollar stress. Gold & SDR certificates are mostly inert legacy items, but they sit on the asset side and round out the balance-sheet identity.
💵 Currency in Circulation — Growth Speed
How fast physical currency (banknotes & coins) is being injected into the economy. Rapid growth often coincides with cash-hoarding episodes; flat or negative deltas signal de-circulation.
💡 Why it matters: Currency in circulation grows slowly with nominal GDP (~5-7%/yr historically). Sudden spikes (COVID 2020, banking stress 2023) signal flight-to-cash; sustained slowdowns can indicate digital-payment displacement or weakening cash demand.
📈 Growth-Speed Trend (annualized %)
Year-over-year (52w), quarter (13w), and month (4w) growth rates plotted as annualized percentages. The historical baseline is roughly 5-7%/yr — sharp upward moves flag flight-to-cash, persistent dips below baseline flag de-circulation.
U.S. Treasury Securities Held Outright
Weekly, $ billions — Federal Reserve balance sheet
Balance Sheet Overview
Total assets, MBS, and reserve balances ($B) — weekly
Fed Total Assets vs S&P 500
Treasury as % of Total Assets
How much of the Fed's balance sheet is US Treasuries — higher = more concentrated in government debt
Fed Liabilities: ON RRP & Treasury General Account
Key drains on reserve liquidity — overnight reverse repos (money-market parking) and Treasury's cash balance at the Fed
Currency in Circulation & Fed Emergency Loans
Physical currency outstanding (largest Fed liability) alongside emergency lending — BTFP spike visible post-SVB 2023