The policy objectives of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in 1977, as repeatedly expressed in the domestic policy directive to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, were “to foster bank reserve and other financial conditions that will encourage continued economic expansion and help resist inflationary pressures, while contributing to a sustainable pattern of international transactions.” By lowering their long-run ranges for growth of the monetary aggregates, the Committee also intended to move gradually toward longer-run rates of monetary expansion consistent with general price stability.