Tag: Fed

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Underlying Inflation Accelerated to a Four-month High in September

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of underlying inflation saw an uptick to a four-month high in September, and consumer spending also showed an increase, leaving the possibility of another interest rate hike in the near future. The core personal consumption expenditures price index, which excludes volatile food and energy components, rose by 0.3% in September, as reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Inflation-adjusted consumer spending saw a 0.4% increase last month.

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The Federal Reserve Hikes Rates a 1/2 Point

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell2

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Washington DC, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System voted unanimously to approve a 1/2 percentage point increase in the primary credit rate to 4.5 percent, effective December 15, 2022.

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The Federal Reserve Hikes Rates For the Sixth Time

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file photo by Boyd Loving

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Washington NJ, The Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate hike Wednesday of 0.75 percent is expected to intensify pressure on the housing market while pushing up mortgage rates that already have reached nearly 20-year highs. Its also the fourth consecutive 0.75 percentage point increase and the sixth consecutive one this year for the Fed, a cycle not seen since the inflation-fighting days of the early 1980s.

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The Fed Wakes Up Raises its Benchmark Interest Rate by Half a Percentage Point

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell2

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Washington DC, on Wednesday  the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point, the most aggressive step yet in its fight against a 40-year high in inflation. In remarks after the Federal Open Market Committee voted to raise its key interest rate by 50-basis points for the first time since 2000, Powell rebuffed any suggestion that a mega-sized, 75-basis point increase is on the table at future meetings. The S&P 500 rose 3% following his comments, the biggest jump since May 2020.

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FED Leaves Rates Unchanged

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell2

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Washington DC, the Federal Reserve kept its interest rates range at near-zero levels Wednesday but hinted at future tightening and balance sheet realignment.  The Fed signaled a slow and steady approach to surging inflation.

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Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell outlines the Federal Reserve’s response to technological advances in the global payment systems

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell2

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Washington DC, Technological advances are driving rapid change in the global payments landscape. The Federal Reserve is studying these developments and exploring ways that it might refine its role as a core payment services provider and as the issuing authority for U.S. currency.

Continue reading Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell outlines the Federal Reserve’s response to technological advances in the global payment systems

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The Federal Reserve’s Electronic Payment System Crashed

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Washington DC, the Federal Reserve’s electronic payment system used to process transactions like mortgages crashed today, causing chaos in the banking sector. Due to the widespread outage, banks and other financial institutions like credit unions and money transfer companies were unable to send or receive wire transfers.

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Rep. Garrett to Chair Yellen: why does the Fed favor Wall Street over Main Street?

House Budget Panel Holds Hearing to Receive Views on Fiscal 2012
July 1,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, In case you missed it, earlier this week Rep. Scott Garrett asked Fed Chair Janet Yellen why the Fed of pursues policies that help the rich at the expense of the poor. Garrett schooled Fed Chair Yellen on the damaging impact her policies have had on the middle class in this country . Garret said the net effect of Fed and administration policy has been to widen income inequality.

In this clip Garrett turns the Fed’s own language against itself and details how Fed policies have hurt African America’s and other  minority groups , as well as the middle class  .

 Watch the clip and let me know your thoughts.
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Trump raises prospect of replacing Yellen

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Sam Fleming in Washington

Donald Trump would probably replace Janet Yellen as Federal Reserve chair if he wins the presidential election, the presumptive Republican nominee said on Thursday.

The property developer turned politician told CNBC that Ms Yellen is “not a Republican” and that it would be “appropriate” to put someone new in the position when her four-year term expires in February 2018.

Nevertheless, Mr Trump also said that he agreed with Ms Yellen’s policy of keeping short-term interest rates low, saying that rate increases would push up the dollar and damage America’s competitive position with China, as well as making it harder to service US debt.

“I have nothing against Janet Yellen whatsoever; I think she has been doing her job,” said Mr Trump, describing her as “very capable”. However, he added: “She is not a Republican . . . when her time is up I would most likely replace her because of the fact that I think it would be appropriate.”

https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7271d02e-12eb-11e6-91da-096d89bd2173.html#axzz47pDrmj00

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A recession worse than 2008 is coming

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Guest Contributor | Michael Pento

The S&P 500 has begun 2016 with its worst performance ever. This has prompted Wall Street apologists to come out in full force and try to explain why the chaos in global currencies and equities will not be a repeat of 2008. Nor do they want investors to believe this environment is commensurate with the dot-com bubble bursting. They claim the current turmoil in China is not even comparable to the 1997 Asian debt crisis.

Indeed, the unscrupulous individuals that dominate financial institutions and governments seldom predict a down-tick on Wall Street, so don’t expect them to warn of the impending global recession and market mayhem.

But a recession has occurred in the U.S. about every five years, on average, since the end of WWII; and it has been seven years since the last one — we are overdue.

Most importantly, the average market drop during the peak to trough of the last 6 recessions has been 37 percent. That would take the S&P 500 down to 1,300; if this next recession were to be just of the average variety.

But this one will be worse.

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/15/a-recession-worse-than-2008-is-coming-commentary.html

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Debt distress level at highest since recession

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Matt Krantz, USA TODAY7:31 a.m. EST December 28, 2015

Higher interest rates are about to hit companies – just when many are ill prepared to handle them.

The Federal Reserve this month took interest rates up for the first time in nearly a decade – ending the days of free money. It might take a few years for higher rates to hit companies – as they look to refinance debt. But the troubling part is many companies aren’t in great shape to eat the higher costs.

The number of companies with the lowest credit ratings and negative outlooks jumped to 195 in December, the highest level since March 2010, says Standard & Poor’s. The biggest culprit for the jump in these so-called “weakest links” is the oil and gas sector, which accounts for 34 of them. But financial companies are close behind, representing 33 of the weakest links, says S&P.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2015/12/28/debt-distress-level-recession/77882786/

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Americans are buying tons of gold

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This summer’s market mayhem caused Americans to buy gold bars and coins at levels unseen since the financial crisis.

When people are scared about the economy and financial markets, they rush to gold. Boy, were they worried in recent months.

U.S. demand for gold bars and coins surged 207% during the third quarter, the World Gold Council said on Thursday.

The skyrocketing demand signaled a level of interest in gold investment “not seen since the global financial crisis,” the group said.

The U.S. Mint backs up that assessment. It said gold Eagle coin sales surged to nearly 400,000 ounces last quarter, the highest level in more than five years.

https://money.cnn.com/2015/11/12/investing/us-gold-demand-surges-markets-fed/index.html

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Congressman: Fed’s Rate Policy ‘Absolutely’ Helps the Obama Administration

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House Republicans frustrated Obama hasn’t appointed vice chair of supervision for Fed

BY: Ali Meyer
November 5, 2015 4:35 pm

The Federal Reserve’s zero-interest rate policy “absolutely” helps the Obama administration, Rep. Sean Duffy (R., Wis.) told the Washington Free Beacon on Wednesday.

“Whether that’s the sole intent, I can’t get in the mind of Chair Yellen,” Duffy said. “Does it help the Obama administration? Absolutely.”

“But monetary policy only goes so far,” he said. “At some point we have to get the fiscal policy right and we get stopped at every turn when we try to reform our tax code with this administration. It definitely has a benefit, but I don’t know if that’s the sole intent of Ms. Yellen.”

The House Financial Services Committee, on which Duffy serves, discussed at a hearing Wednesday the Fed’s lack of a vice chair of supervision. This position was created by the Dodd-Frank Act to keep the Federal Reserve accountable to Congress, and it has been more than 1,900days since President Obama has been required to appoint someone to fill it.

By keeping interest rates near zero, the Federal Reserve allows the government to continue to finance its debt without worrying about paying high interest on that debt. “The ultra-low interest rates on Treasury debt, with the three-month T-Bill rate now at zero, have allowed the federal government to act as if deficit financing is a free lunch,” explains James Dorn, a fellow specializing in monetary policy at the Cato Institute.

“It’s certainly propping up part of the economy,” said Rep. Scott Garrett (R., N.J.). “And that was the testimony of Secretary Lew and [Chair] Yellen, saying that we see higher prices in the commodities and also on the street as well. And to the extent that this endures to the benefit of this administration, that they’re able to say as they did yesterday in the hearing that things are just going well in the economy and people are profitable – sure.”

https://freebeacon.com/issues/congressman-feds-rate-policy-absolutely-helps-the-obama-administration/

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Garrett: Attention on Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) Meeting Proves Fed has Too Much Influence on U.S. Economy

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Sep 16, 2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ,  Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ-05), Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises, issued the following statement as the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) begins their September meeting:

“As the ridiculous amount of attention on this week’s FOMC meeting proves, the performance of our economy and the financial markets is increasingly dependent on a group of unelected bureaucrats at the Federal Reserve.  Chair Yellen and her predecessors claim that the Fed’s monetary policy decisions are based upon objective criteria, yet traders, lenders, economists, and other market participants anxiously wait to probe and dissect every word in the FOMC statement.

“There is a problem when more Americans are looking to a secret Fed meeting for economic indicators than the actual financial markets. We need to scale back the undue influence that the Federal Reserve and other central bankers have on our economy by following what has worked in the past: a rules-based monetary policy that fosters greater certainty and leads to longer periods of sustained economic growth.”