Fed’s Powell in Jackson Hole Hints at Coming Federal Funds Rate Adjustment
– Says FOMC Can Proceed ‘Carefully’ But Cites Greater Job Risks – Announces Significant Shifts in FOMC’s Monetary Policy Framework By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell hinted Friday that the Federal Open Market Committee could resume lowering short-term interest rates when the Fed’s rate-setting body meets in mid-September. Powell made […]
Fed Officials Still Divided, Unsure About When and How Much To Cut Interest Rates
By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – Federal Reserve officials have continued this week to muse about cutting interest rates for the first time since December when the Fed’s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee meets in mid- September, but the FOMC remains divided and unsure. Despite an uptick in inflation, labor market worries have come to […]
BofA Global Research Fund Manager Survey: Global Investors Increasingly More Cautious About Growth and Inflation In August
By Vicki Schmelzer NEW YORK (MaceNews) – Global investors were increasingly more cautious in their views about growth and inflation in August, according to BofA Global Research’s monthly fund manager survey, released Monday. A net 41% of those polled this month looked for weaker global growth in the coming 12 months. This compared to a […]
Fed Officials Rethinking ‘Appropriate’ Monetary Policy After Weak July Jobs Data
– Gov. Cook Calls Jobs Report ‘Concerning’ – Could Mark ‘A Turning Point’ – Cook Also Sees ‘Quite Elevated’ Stocks as Potential Threat to Financial Stability – Daly Fears ‘Softening’ Labor Market; Must ‘Adjust’ Rates ‘In Coming Months’ – Collins Speaks About ‘Wait and See’ Approach Among Economic Players By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – […]
US TARIFFS STATE OF PLAY: New Reciprocal Tariffs Don’t Dispel Uncertainty, Confusion
–Trump Fires Head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because of alleged manipulation By Denny Gulino WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – With new reciprocal levies raising America’s average tariff rate to above 18% and the latest jobs and ISM reports raising stagflation fears, the overall era of uncertainty seems to have intensified, not diminished. The environment of […]
FOMC Keeps 4.25-4.50% Funds Rate; 2 Governors Dissent in Favor of Cut
– Governors Waller, Bowman Preferred Immediate 25 Basis Point Rate Cut – Powell: ‘More Neutral’ Policy May Be Justified If ‘Downside Risks’ To Jobs Increase – Powell: For Now ‘Moderately Restrictive’ Stance Leaves Fed ‘Well-Positioned’ By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – Once again, Federal Reserve policymakers refused to lower short-term interest rates Wednesday in the […]
TRANSCRIPT: Fed’s Powell Stays Away From Promises of a September Rate Cut
.WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The following is a rough transcript of Wednesday afternoon’s post-FOMC meeting news conference with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell: Despite elevated uncertainty, the economy is in a solid position. The unemployment rate remains low and the labor market is at or near maximum employment. Inflation has been running somewhat above our 2% […]
FOMC Sees Two Governors Dissent, Favoring a Quarter Point Rate Cut
WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The Federal Open Market Committee Wednesday, while keeping rates steady, saw the first double dissent in decades as Michelle Bowman and Chris Waller, as expected, favored a quarter point rate cut at this meeting. Otherwise, the policy statement made no reference to the likelihood of any future rate cut. It repeated uncertainty […]
Potential Powell Successor Warsh Urges Fed Rate Cuts, Balance Sheet Slashing, Regime Change
By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – Former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh, one of the leading candidates to succeed Fed Chair Jerome Powell, urged both interest rate cuts and balance shrinkage as he virtually campaigned for Powell’s job in a television interview Thursday night. Warsh, who was a member of the Fed board of governors […]
– FOMC Vice Chair Williams: ‘Modestly Restrictive’ Policy ‘Entirely Appropriate’ – Kugler, Collins, Logan, Hammack, Daly Also Back Delaying Monetary Easing By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – Unfazed by White House pressure, Federal Reserve officials have reasserted their intention to take a cautious and deliberate approach to considering additional interest rate reductions cuts this week. […]