Monetary Base Contracting at Decelerating Rate

(Positive) In April 2017, the monetary base was $3.840 trillion. In absolute terms, the monetary base decrease in April after three months of increases. Compared with one year ago, in April the monetary base decreased 1.5 percent. This was the 14th straight month and the 16 month in the last 17 months that it has contracted. However, the rate of contraction in March and April was the slowest of any of those months. The annual rate of change in the monetary base, now -5.2 percent, has contracted at a decelerating rate the last two months and was at its slowest rate of contraction since November 2016.