Plot the Federal Reserve Rates over Time

Finally, you want to observe how the Federal Reserve rate has changed over time. To quickly determine any trends, you decide to create a line plot of the Federal Reserve rates from January 2, 1962, to May 20, 2010.
  1. In the Original Data worksheet, select the Excel data.
  2. On the SAS tab, click Tasks. In the Tasks window, select Line Plot. The Choose Data dialog box appears.
  3. For the input data, select Excel Data. Because you previously selected the data in the Original Data worksheet, the range of the data appears in the Excel Data box.
  4. For the location of the results, select New worksheet. By default, the name of this worksheet is Line Plot.
    Click OK. The Line Plot task appears.
  5. In the Data panel, assign DATE to the Horizontal role and VALUE to the Vertical role.
    In the selection pane, select Appearancethen selectPlots.
  6. In the Appearance > Plots panel, specify blue as the line color.
    Changing the Line Color to Blue
    In the selection pane, select Appearancethen selectAxesthen selectGeneral.
  7. In the Appearance > Axes > General panel, select the Display Grid Lines check box.
    Display Grid Lines Check Box in the Line Plot Task
    In the selection pane, select Appearancethen selectAxesthen selectHorizontal Axisthen selectMajor Ticks.
  8. In the Appearance > Axes > Horizontal Axis > Major Ticks panel, select Specify, and then add the following values for the major tick marks:
    • 02JAN1962
    • 25JAN1970
    • 17FEB1978
    • 12MAR1986
    • 04APR1994
    • 27APR2002
    • 20MAY2010
    Specifying Values for the Major Tick Marks on the Horizontal Axis
    In the selection pane, select Appearancethen selectAxesthen selectVertical Axisthen selectAxis.
  9. In the Appearance > Axes > Vertical Axis > Axis panel, enter Federal Reserve Rate in the Label field.
    Customizing the Label on the Vertical Axis of the Line Plot
    In the selection pane, select Chart Area.
  10. In the Chart Area panel, select gray as the background color for the chart.
    Specify the Background Color in the Chart Area Panel
    In the selection pane, click Titles.
  11. In the Titles panel, change the title of the line plot and remove the generated footnote.
    To change the title of the line plot:
    1. In the Section box, select Graph.
    2. In the Text for section: Title area, clear the Use default text check box. Replace Line Plot with Federal Reserve Rate over Time.
      Specifying a New Title for the Graph
    To remove the footnote:
    1. In the Section box, select Footnote.
    2. In the Text for section: Footnote area, clear the Use default text check box. Delete the generated text that appears in the text box.
    Click Run.
The results appear in the new Line Plot worksheet.
Results from the Line Plot Task Appear in the New Line Plot Worksheet
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Last updated: April 27, 2017