Category: US Federal Reserve Bank
The analysis published under this category are as follows.Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Janet Yellen Responds as a Central Banker Would / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
Let's try to untangle the web of Fed-speak going on here. "Reality" for our purposes is defined as my opinion, obviously.
Yellen Defends Seven Years of Low Interest Rates in Letter to Nader
Fed-Speak:
Warning that "an overly aggressive increase in rates would at most benefit savers only temporarily," she argued in the letter released Monday in Washington that the Fed's seven-year era of zero rates had sheltered American savers from dramatic declines in the value of their homes and retirement accounts.
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Monday, November 09, 2015
Does the Bell Toll for the Fed? / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
Last week Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen hinted that the Federal Reserve Board will increase interest rates at the board's December meeting. The positive jobs report that was released following Yellen's remarks caused many observers to say that the Federal Reserve's first interest rate increase in almost a decade is practically inevitable.
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Wednesday, November 04, 2015
The Fed Desperately Tries to Maintain the Status Quo / Economics / US Federal Reserve Bank
Ronald-Peter Stöferle writes: During the press conferences of recent FOMC meetings, millions of well-educated investment professionals have been sitting in front of their screens, chewing their fingernails, listening as if spellbound to what Janet Yellen has to tell them. Will she finally raise the federal funds rate that has been zero bound for over six years?
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Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Fed Headed into Inflation Overdrive / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
Seven years of extraordinary fiscal and monetary stimuli are proving ineffective towards achieving the growth and inflation targets laid out by the Federal Reserve. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), the Producer Price Index (PPI) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) have all failed to grow over 2%. This is because asset prices, at these unjustified and unsustainable levels, need massive and ever increasing amounts of QE (new money creation) to stave off the gravitational forces of deflation. Fittingly, it isn't much of a mystery that the major U.S. averages have gone nowhere since QE officially ended in October of 2014.
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Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Impeachment of the Federal Reserve / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
Throughout history, holding public officials accountable for wrongdoing has been elusive even under the most moral regimes. As an ordinary practice, crime pays, especially in public office. Personal gain is an obvious offense. However, misdemeanors against specific persons, entire classes of people or even crimes against humanity are routinely committed in the normal course of administrating governments. Woefully, a universal remedy to prevent such a chronicle of depravity has never been applied to the body politik.
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Thursday, October 08, 2015
FOMC Minutes Fireworks / Stock-Markets / US Federal Reserve Bank
SPX has risen back to the 50-da Moving Average for the 5th time. I don’t like this action, but it seems that the market is waiting for the release of the FOMC Minutes at 2:00 pm.
Reuters reports, “U.S. stocks fell on Thursday as investors await the minutes of the Federal Reserve's September meeting to get an insight into the central bank's decision to keep interest rates steady.
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Wednesday, October 07, 2015
Summers Grades Janet Yellen's Fed Performance 'Incomplete' / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers joined hosts Stephanie Ruhle and David Westin on Bloomberg TV's new flagship morning program, Bloomberg <GO>. He discussed the economy, the 2008 financial crisis, and Janet Yellen's job performance as Federal Reserve Chair.
On what grade he would give Janet Yellen, Summers said: "I'd give her an incomplete because the term is not yet over. But she's done, as I say, I've got great respect for Janet Yellen."
Monday, September 28, 2015
Congress and the Fed Refuse to Learn From Their Mistakes / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
This month marks the seventh anniversary of the bursting of the housing bubble and the subsequent economic meltdown. The mood in Congress following the meltdown resembled the panicked atmosphere that followed the September 11th attacks. As was the case after September 11th, Congress rushed to pass hastily written legislation that, instead of dealing with the real causes of the crisis, simply gave the government more power.
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Friday, September 25, 2015
The Fed’s Alice In Wonderland Economy - What Happens Next? / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
By Nick Giambruno
After the president of the United States, the most powerful person on the planet is the chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Ask almost anyone on the street for the name of the U.S. president, and you’ll get a quick answer.
But if you ask the same person what the Federal Reserve is, you’ll likely get a blank stare.
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Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Federal Reserve Under Yellen / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
Now that the big bluff from the Federal Reserve that interest rates were poised to start their eventual rise has been played, when will the trigger actually be pulled? Assumptions that the Fed act as custodians of the national trust to balance and maintain the economic stability has been proven wrong time and again. Just how well has their efforts translated into the real economy of business activities that reflects positively for the average American? Obviously, if you are not a hedge fund speculator, your response will be guarded at best.
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Sunday, September 20, 2015
Has the Fed Lost its Mojo? / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
After 6 full years of zero rates and extreme pump-priming that flushed more than $10 trillion dollars into global markets, the Federal Reserve decided that even the slightest uptick in its benchmark Fed Funds rate would trigger enough destructive volatility in emerging markets that it would be better to postpone the rate hike until some unknown date in the future. The announcement that the FOMC planned to keep rates pegged at zero sent stocks briefly higher after which they fell sharply pushing global indices deep into the red.
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Friday, September 18, 2015
In Thrall to the Federal Reserve / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
Jeff Deist writes: BREAKING NEWS:
Perhaps no economic pronouncement in history has been anticipated, discussed, predicted, dissected, and reported like the Federal Reserve’s momentous decision today not to raise interest rates.
The outpouring of relief witnessed today by the financial press is nothing short of cathartic. Fear and anxiety, built up over months, is replaced by relief, even euphoria.
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Sunday, September 13, 2015
How the Fed Is Hurting U.S. Manufacturing / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
Sean Brodrick writes: Whether he deserves it or not, Obama is getting kudos on his handling of the economy, particularly the declining unemployment rate. In August, the official headline unemployment rate dropped to 5.1%. But that same jobs data out of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) contained some sobering news: Manufacturing payrolls are getting shredded.
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Thursday, August 20, 2015
The Fed Talks And The Market Tanks. That’s Different / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
Normally there’s a distinct pattern to the impact of Federal Reserve statements on the financial markets. The tone of equities trading in particular starts to improve as the moment of the announcement approaches; the words turn out to be blandly positive, full of promises of easy money and upbeat forecasts; and share prices soar for a day or two. It’s been thus for most of the past six years, leading large numbers of new investors and recently-minted analysts and traders to see the Fed as a modern version of Plato’s philosopher king, wielding absolute power to achieve perfect justice in the form of rising asset prices.
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Sunday, August 02, 2015
It's a Wonderful Life Without the Federal Reserve Bank / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank
MoneyMorning.com Shah Gilani writes: I have a dream. Well, I had a dream, but maybe it's never coming true, so I'll revel in my real dream.
And what a dream it was…
America had changed overnight. I didn't know what had happened, but everything was different the morning I woke up (while I was, unfortunately, still in my dream).
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Monday, July 20, 2015
The Fed’s Confusion Over the "Natural Rate" of Unemployment and Inflation / Economics / US Federal Reserve Bank
In May, the US unemployment rate stood at 5.5 percent against the rate of 5.3 percent for the “natural unemployment,” also known as the Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment (NAIRU).
According to the popular view, once the actual unemployment rate falls to below the NAIRU, or the natural unemployment rate, the rate of inflation tends to accelerate and economic activity becomes overheated. (This acceleration in the rate of inflation takes place through increases in the demand for goods and services. It also lifts the demand for workers and puts pressure on wages, reinforcing the growth in inflation).
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Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Stop the Fed!? / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
We are concerned the Fed causes both economic and political stability to deteriorate. And, no, this is not about discouraging the Fed to hike rates. This analysis is about pointing out that the road to hell may be paved with the best of intentions. For the economy to prosper, we need a re-thinking not just at the Fed, but also with some Fed critics. Let me elaborate...
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Friday, June 05, 2015
Bernanke is Still Bubble Blind / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
Even though the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve is now getting paid privately for his economic and market prognostications, he is still unable to identify or acknowledge the monumental bubbles that central banks have engineered. Mr. Bernanke, who was recently interviewed in Korea, tried to assure investors that rate hikes (whenever they begin) would be good news for the U.S. economy. He was also very "optimistic" there would not be a hard landing in China. And, not surprisingly, the man who is now gainfully employed at the Brookings Institution, Pimco and hedge fund Citadel, is also "encouraged" by Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe's growth strategy. This is despite the fact that the thrust of Abenomics has been to depreciate the value of the Yen by 35 percent in the past two and a half years.
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Thursday, May 07, 2015
U.S. Fed Embarrassment of Transparency / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
Over the past decade or so, "transparency" has become one of the buzzwords that has guided the Federal Reserve's culture. The word was meant to convey the belief that central banking was best done for all to see in the full light of day, not in the murky back rooms of Washington and New York. The Fed seems to be on a mission to prove that its operations are benevolent, fair, predictable, and equitable. Part of that transparency movement took shape in 2007 when the Fed began publicizing its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) forecasts, which previously (to the frustration of investors) had been kept under wraps. Most of the Fed's policy moves are tied to how strong, or how weak, it believes the economy will be in the coming year. As a result, its GDP forecast is perhaps the single most important estimate it make.
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Tuesday, May 05, 2015
The U.S. Fed Needs Your Help / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
Rodney Johnson writes: The Fed needs your help. This stately body of academics has worked for years to rejuvenate the U.S. economy, but to no avail.
You can’t say they’ve been lazy in their efforts. When their first quantitative easing (QE) program failed to create a bounce back in housing, they started up another one, QE2. When that failed they brought in QELite, followed by Operation Twist.
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