CHICAGO FED’S CHARLES EVANS: CURRENT RATES ‘WELL-POSITIONED,’ BUT REMAINS OPEN TO DISCUSSION
By Suzanne Cosgrove Lake Forest, Illinois (MaceNews) – Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans said Wednesday the Fed was “well-positioned from a risk-management standpoint,” following the September quarter-point interest rate cuts. However, Evans said he would continue to evaluate incoming data through the end of the year, and is open-minded to its discussion. He cited […]
ST. L FED BULLARD: SLOWING ECON, LOW INFL JUSTIFIED MORE EASE
By Steven K. Beckner EFFINGHAM, ILL. (MaceNews) – St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard. warning an already slowing economy could continue to slow more than expected, strongly suggested Monday that more credit easing is needed, but said it is possible the Fed will be able to “take back” some or all of its […]
WHITE HOUSE WATCH: FLYING BLIND ON RATES AND MUCH ELSE
By Denny Gulino THE WHITE HOUSE (MaceNews)– President Trump Thursday said despite his personal attacks, from “boneheads” to Wednesday’s “terrible communicator,” he is not going to try to remove Jerome Powell from the helm of the Federal Reserve. By mid afternoon Trump had tweeted no additional attacks on Powell or other Fed leadership and had […]
BOE’S CARNEY: CENTRAL BANKS HAVE TOOLS TO RESPOND TO SLOWDOWN, IF NEEDED
By Tony Mace NEW YORK (MaceNews) – Major central banks, including the Bank of England, have the tools and room to respond to a slowdown, if needed, BOE Governor Mark Carney said Tuesday. “The possibility of a slowdown has certainly gone up,” Carney said during an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations. Asked whether […]
FED’S BEIGE BK SHOWS MIXED RESULTS BUT NO DANGER SIGNS
WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – “Concerns,” “mixed” and “modest” were the key words in the latest Beige Book survey of national economic trends Wednesday, and while the overall picture was muddled it wasn’t overly negative. “Although concerns regarding tariffs and trade policy uncertainty continued, the majority of businesses remained optimistic about the near-term outlook,” the survey summary […]
FED’S WILLIAMS: ‘MORE WORK TO DO’ BEFORE FED DECIDES NEXT POLICY STEP
By Tony Mace NEW YORK (MaceNews) – Federal Reserve policy-makers are not yet ready to decide their next policy move, and their thinking hinges on domestic data and global economic conditions, New York Fed President John Williams said Wednesday. “We still have a lot of work to do – there’s more data, including the employment […]
JACKSON HOLE: POWELL STAYS NONCOMMITTAL ON FURTHER RATE CUTS
By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – Ever since the Federal Reserve’s policymaking Federal Open Market Committee cut interest rates modestly for the first time in 11 years on July 31, financial markets have been eagerly waiting to see what Chairman Jerome Powell’s monetary policy posture would be three weeks later at the Fed’s annual Jackson […]
FED’S POWELL: FIXATED ON DATA POINTS IN ‘EVENTFUL’ PRELUDE TO FOMC
WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – Key excerpts of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole speech Friday, “Challenges for Monetary Policy” with boldfaced emphasis added: People who live and work in low- and middle-income communities tell us that this job market is the best anyone can recall. We increasingly hear reports that employers are training workers who […]
FOMC MINUTES SHOW NO PROMISE OF MORE RATE CUTS
–Wanted to Avoid ‘Any Appearance of Following Pre-Set Course’ –Meandering Discussion Struggles for Consensus; Saw ‘Absence of Clarity’ –‘Uncertainty’ and ‘Uncertainties’ Make Frequent Appearances By Denny Gulino WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The view that the top Federal Reserve policymakers are as confused as everyone else in an environment of sharply conflicting signals – strong domestic jobs […]
FOMC BEGINS WITH CASE FOR RATE CUT STILL NOT CLEAR CUT
–The Boeing 737 MAX Rate Cut? By Denny Gulino WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – If the Federal Open Market Committee wanted some cover to back out of a rate cut Wednesday it could look no farther than toward the Treasury Department which Monday declared, “Downside risks in the second half of 2019 appear to be lessening.” Of […]