By Jason Simpkins Associate Editor The U.S. Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 4.25% yesterday (Tuesday), the third time the central bank has reduced borrowing costs since mid-September. At its highly anticipated Dec. 11 meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee elected to reduce the Federal Discount Rate, the […]
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Federal Reserve System
Federal Reserve Hints at December Rate Cut the Day Dismal Housing Statistics are Released. Coincidence?
By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn – intentionally or not – hinted that another interest rate cut is possible when the central bank's policymaking Federal Open Market Committee (FMOC) meets on Dec. 11. "The degree of deterioration that has happened over the last couple of weeks is not something […]
Federal Reserve to Increase Disclosure, Will Now Publish Economic Forecasts Quarterly
By Mike Caggeso Associate Editor Will the "Bernanke Era" be remembered for its own form of glasnost? Perhaps so. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his team at the policymaking Federal Open Market Committee announced yesterday (Wednesday) that they would increase the frequency of their economic projections from twice a year to once […]
An Optimist Jobs Report Grants the Fed Some Breathing Room
By Jason Simpkins Associate Editor Employers added 166,000 employees in October, more than double analyst forecasts, the U.S. Labor Department reported Friday. Most economists had only expected an increase of between 80,000 and 85,000 jobs. The report helped to ease concerns that the meltdown in mortgage markets and the heavy toll taken on homebuilding would […]
Three Places to Profit in Spite of the Fed's Missteps
By Keith Fitz-GeraldContributing Editor I wish that I had something deeply insightful – or at least clever and pithy – to say about the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to drop interest rates by another quarter point yesterday (Wednesday). But I don't. Yesterday's decision to cut short-term rates is just more of the same from Team […]
U.S. Economic Growth Accelerates in Turbulent Third Quarter
By Jason Simpkins Associate Editor A report from the Commerce Department Wednesday showed the U.S. economy is holding up well against the housing slump and credit crunch. The economy expanded by 3.9% in the third quarter, which included a period when mortgage and borrowing costs were at six-year highs. Analysts had only expected a growth […]
Send in the Clowns: Bush Administration Pursues Economic Policy of Benign Neglect
By Peter D. Schiff Guest Columnist Four leading members of the Bush administration's economic team, including Ed Lazear, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Al Hubbard, director of the National Economic Council, and Jim Nussle, director of the Office of Management and Budget, convened on a CNBC TV panel last […]
The Five Ways to Profit From the Pending Gold Bubble
By Martin Hutchinson Director of Global Investing Research (The First of Two Parts) The Fed has kept interest rates too low for the last decade, causing bubbles in tech stocks and housing, and has now begun to lower rates anew. Other central banks have done the same, notably in China, where the economy and the […]
Fed Official Offers Assurance
From Staff Reports U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Randall Kroszner yesterday (Monday) assured investors that the central bank would take the necessary steps to protect the economy and to foster growth. "The Federal Reserve will continue to monitor developments in financial markets and act as needed to support the effective functioning of these markets and to […]
U.S. Market Update: Earnings Start, Deals Continue, Fed Minutes Upbeat...
The almighty consumer accounts for two-thirds of the economy's growth (or, at least, that's what the "experts" always claim). Well, last week, they received some pretty mixed signals about consumer activity: past, present, and future. While the world's top retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), surprisingly increased its earnings forecast for the third quarter, few others […]