USD by the numbers

Glossary

Currency

Currency in circulation — Federal Reserve notes and coin held outside the Treasury, Federal Reserve Banks, and depository institution vaults. Broken out by denomination ($100, $50, $20, etc.).

Deposits

Demand deposit — A bank account from which funds can be withdrawn on demand without prior notice (i.e., a checking account). Historically non-interest-bearing.

Household demand deposits — Checking-account balances held by individuals and nonprofits.

Business + government + foreign demand deposits — Checking-account balances held by nonfinancial corporations, state/local governments, and foreign entities at US banks. Excludes the Treasury's General Account at the Fed (which is not part of any M-aggregate).

Savings deposits — Interest-bearing accounts at depository institutions with no scheduled maturity. Includes passbook, statement, and online savings accounts.

Money market deposit account (MMDA) — A bank-issued, FDIC-insured deposit account that pays a money-market-like rate and allows limited withdrawals. Not the same as a money market fund.

Interest-bearing checking (NOW + ATS) — Checking accounts that pay interest, enabled by Negotiable Order of Withdrawal (NOW) accounts and Automatic Transfer Service (ATS) sweeps.

Time deposit — A deposit with a fixed maturity date and (usually) a penalty for early withdrawal. Certificates of deposit (CDs) are the most common form.

Small-denomination time deposit — A time deposit under $100,000 (a retail CD).

Large-denomination time deposit — A time deposit of $100,000 or more (an institutional or jumbo CD, often negotiable in the secondary market).

Money market funds

Money market fund (MMF) — A mutual fund that invests in short-term, high-quality debt and aims to maintain a stable $1 share price.

Retail vs. institutional MMF — Retail MMFs are open to households (lower minimums, individual share classes); institutional MMFs are restricted to corporations, pension funds, and other large investors.

Government MMF — An MMF that invests at least 99.5% in cash, Treasury securities, agency debt, and repos collateralized by those. The largest MMF category by assets.

Treasury-only MMF — A subset of government MMFs that hold only Treasury securities and Treasury repos.

Prime MMF — An MMF that invests in a broader range of short-term debt including commercial paper, large CDs, and corporate notes.

Tax-exempt MMF — An MMF that invests primarily in short-term municipal debt; interest is exempt from federal income tax.

Wholesale funding

Repurchase agreement (repo) — A short-term collateralized loan: the borrower sells a security and agrees to repurchase it later at a slightly higher price; the difference is interest. Treasuries are the most common collateral.

Tri-party repo — A repo where a custodian bank (e.g. BNY Mellon) handles collateral management for both sides. The dominant venue for general-collateral repo.

Bilateral repo — A repo arranged directly between two counterparties without a custodian.

FICC-cleared repo — A repo cleared through the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation, which steps in as central counterparty to reduce settlement risk.

Eurodollars — US dollar–denominated deposits held at banks outside the United States. The name predates the term being generic; today most are held in the Caribbean and London.

Treasury & corporate short-term debt

Treasury bill (T-bill) — US government debt with an original maturity of one year or less. Sold at a discount and redeemed at face value.

T-bill auction term — The original tenor at issuance (4-week, 8-week, 13-week, 17-week, 26-week, 52-week). When Treasury re-opens an existing CUSIP, the original auction term sticks — so a "26-week" bill four months later still appears in the 26-week bucket even though its remaining maturity is much shorter.

Cash management bill (CMB) — A T-bill with an irregular maturity (e.g., 14 or 35 days) issued ad-hoc when Treasury needs short-term cash.

Commercial paper (CP) — Unsecured short-term debt issued by corporations and financial institutions, typically maturing in under 270 days.

Financial CP — CP issued by banks, broker-dealers, and other financial firms.

Asset-backed CP (ABCP) — CP backed by a pool of assets (e.g., trade receivables, credit-card receivables, auto loans).

Nonfinancial CP — CP issued by nonfinancial corporations to fund payroll, inventory, and other working capital.

Savings bond (Series EE / I) — Non-marketable US government bonds sold directly to individual investors. Series EE pays a fixed rate; Series I pays a rate that adjusts every six months with inflation.