We study the price discovery process on FOMC days. For several asset classes, we find that price movements around the post-meeting statement release are strong predictors of price movements around the subsequent press conference. The correlation is 58% for medium-term Eurodollar futures and 44% for the S&P500 index. We then time-stamp the words pronounced in press conference videos and align these words with high-frequency financial data. Minutes in which the chairman discusses changes in the newly issued policy statement underlie the positive correlation. We discuss potential explanations and consider the implications of our findings for asset pricing and monetary economics.

We estimate risk-free interest rates unaffected by convenience yields on safe assets. We infer them from risky asset prices without relying on any specific model of risk. We obtain interest rates and implied convenience yields with maturities up to three years at a minutely frequency. Our estimated convenience yield on Treasuries equals about 40 basis points, is larger below three months maturity, and quadruples during the financial crisis. In high-frequency event studies, conventional and unconventional monetary stimulus reduces our rates more than the corresponding Treasury yields, thus broadly affecting rates even outside the narrow confines of the fixed-income market.