Money Supply Rises During Week, Fed Says

The two broadest measures of the nation’s money supply rose in the week ended Feb. 20, the Federal Reserve Board reported Thursday.

The Fed said the measure known as M2 increased to a seasonally adjusted $3,076.7 billion from $3,069.5 billion the previous week.

An even broader measure, M3, increased to a seasonally adjusted $3,945.9 billion from $3,926.6 billion.

The narrowest measure of the money supply, M1, rose to a seasonally adjusted $789.5 billion from $784.3 billion.

M1 includes cash in circulation, deposits in checking accounts and non-bank travelers checks. M2 is M1 plus accounts such as savings deposits and money market mutual funds. M3 is M2 plus less liquid accounts such as certificates of deposit in minimum denominations of $100,000.

In judging its monetary policy, the Fed has indicated that it is monitoring the value of the dollar, commodity prices and the difference between short- and long-term interest rates.