今天我们来了解一下金融领域必须知道的一家机构，它叫美联储（Fed）。

The Federal Reserve System (also known as the Federal Reserve or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of financial panics (particularly the panic of 1907) led to the desire for central control of the monetary system in order to alleviate financial crises.Over the years, events such as the Great Depression in the 1930s and the Great Recession during the 2000s have led to the expansion of the roles and responsibilities of the Federal Reserve System.

（美国）联邦储蓄系统（或者联邦储蓄或简称Fed）是美国的中央银行系统。一系列金融大恐慌（尤其是1907年的大恐慌），引起社会对金融系统集中控制以减少金融危机的呼声高涨之后，根据美国联邦储备法案，美联储系统于1913年12月23日创立。这些年来，发生的大事，比如1930年代的大萧条和2000年代大衰退都扩大了美联储系统的角色和职责。

Because the United States is the only superpower in the world, its economic, military, and financial aspects are the first in the world, and it has an overwhelming advantage over other countries. This has made Fed's position the world's top central bank. The Fed's influence on the U.S. dollar, which affects the global market, depends mainly on three channels - legal reserves, open market operations, and discount rates. The rate increase we often hear is one of the open market operations.

因为美国是全球唯一的超级大国，其经济军事金融方面都是全球第一，对其它国家有压倒性优势。这就导致了其央行——美联储的金融地位成为全球央行之首。美联储影响美元，从而影响全球市场，主要靠三个途径——法定准备金、公开市场操作以及贴现率，我们经常听到的加息就是其中的公开市场操作的一种。