FED’S POWELL: PROBABLE ‘LONG TAIL’ OF THOSE SLOW TO GET JOBS BACK

By Denny Gulino WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell, following a hold-in-place policy meeting, Wednesday stayed away from any happy talk about progress against the virus and unemployment, saying it will be quite a while before low jobless rates return. Referring to the “tail” outside the bulk of the reemployment distribution curve, Powell […]

TEXT OF FOMC POLICY STATEMENT JULY 29, 2020

The Federal Reserve is committed to using its full range of tools to support the U.S. economy in this challenging time, thereby promoting its maximum employment and price stability goals. The coronavirus outbreak is causing tremendous human and economic hardship across the United States and around the world. Following sharp declines, economic activity and employment […]

STATUS CHECK: BITTER PARTISAN DIVISIONS ON DISPLAY; CONSUMER CONF DETERIORATES

WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The following is Tuesday’s status check of developments in the U.S. that can influence economic, health and political outcomes: A VIX somewhat more tense Tuesday, worsening 2.83% to 25.44, as U.S. stocks backed into the red by moderate amounts, worsening in a steep downdraft in the last hour of trading. The S&P […]

STATUS CHECK: FOMC; THE SHADOW VIRUS TASK FORCE; AS GOES BASEBALL …

WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The following is Monday’s’ status check of developments in the U.S. that can influence economic, health and political outcomes: A VIX improved by a large amount, 4.28%, to 24.74, backgrounded a mildly positive day for U.S. stocks, with the DJIA +0.43%/+114.88; S&P +0.74%/+23.78 and the Nasdaq +1.67%/+173.09. After-hours futures were much the […]

THE JULY FOMC AND BEYOND – WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE FED

By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – Even though the U.S. economy’s partial recovery has lately shown signs of faltering in face of renewed anti-coronavirus restrictions, it would be little short of astonishing if the Federal Reserve’s policy making Federal Open Market Committee were to announce any new monetary stimulus initiatives at the conclusion of its […]

STATUS CHECK: NEXT WK, FOMC AND US GDP. MORE NASDAQ WOES?

WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The following is Friday’s’ status check of developments in the U.S. that can influence economic, health and political outcomes: The VIX stayed about the same at 25.84 Friday after U.S. stocks were modestly negative for a second day. The DJIA finished -0.68%/-`82.94 and off 0.76% for the week. S&P -0.67%/-20.03 and also […]

DATA PREVIEW: THE COVID BILL COMES DUE WITH Q2 US GDP

By Kevin Kastner WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – All throughout the COVID-19 shutdown, everyone from talking heads to economists to politicians spoke about second quarter GDP in ominous terms – a data point that was way down the road at the time. So now here we are. The advance estimate of second-quarter GDP will be released Thursday […]

FED’S BEIGE BK: SOME BOUNCEBACK FROM STILL VERY LOW LEVELS

WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The latest Federal Reserve Beige Book survey of economic conditions in all 12 Districts published Wednesday was particularly uninformative this time around, providing little insight beyond generally available information on what’s happening to guide the upcoming meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. The summary and District-by-District snapshots, assembled by the Chicago […]

DATA PREVIEW: JUNE DATA SOLID, BUT COVID REBOUND LOOMS

By Kevin Kastner WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The U.S. data for June have been generally positive, with a solid gain in nonfarm payrolls and the above-50 ISM readings for both the manufacturing and nonmanufacturing sectors. Of course, much of this was before several large states reported rebounds in their COVID-19 cases, so the silver cloud comes […]

FED’S DALY/BARKIN SEE HUGE PANDEMIC-CAUSED ECONOMIC CHALLENGES STILL TO COME

By Denny Gulino WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The presidents of the Richmond and San Francisco Federal Reserve Banks Tuesday saw huge challenges ahead as government virus response programs ebb, landlords without rent payments pressure banks, displaced workers stay unemployed  and customers get less enthusiastic about visits to bricks and mortar establishments as the pandemic hangs on. […]