The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Washington DC, the US Federal Reserve did what almost everyone expected it would do, raising interest rates by a quarter percentage point and hinting it could be the final move in its tightening campaign. With a slight tweak to its language, the central bank signaled that the time to step back and watch may have finally arrived.
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.
Continue reading The Federal Reserve Hikes Rates a 1/2 Point
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.
Continue reading The Federal Reserve Hikes Rates For the Sixth Time
file photo
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Home prices are still higher than they were a year ago, but gains are rapidly decelerating at the fastest pace on record. Prices in August were 13% higher nationally compared with August 2021, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index. That is down from a 15.6% annual gain in the previous month. The 2.6% difference in those monthly comparisons is the largest in the history of the index, which was launched in 1987, meaning price gains are decelerating at a record pace
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Washington Dc, the Federal Reserve announced another steep interest rate hike Wednesday, ramping up its efforts to bring inflation down from four-decade highs.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Mortgage rates are soaring to levels not seen in nearly four years, and if they keep rising this quickly, we may see homes soon become out of reach for millions of families.
Continue reading Mortgage Rates Soar To levels not seen in 4 years—and they’re not done rising yet!
Washington DC, Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement :
“Indicators of economic activity and employment have continued to strengthen. Job gains have been strong in recent months, and the unemployment rate has declined substantially. Inflation remains elevated, reflecting supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic, higher energy prices, and broader price pressures.”
By Charles Stampul
This is an attempt to make sense of the war that is now threatening Americans. Everything that follows is pure speculation for entertainment purposes only. Continue reading American Oligarchs Behind Economic War on Russians
By Charles Stampul
It takes about a decade for inflation to reach its apex. In August of 1971 President Nixon closed the gold window, putting an end to Bretton Woods agreement. CPI and interest rates peaked ten years later.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Circle has announced its intention to become a fully regulated bank. Its aim is to become a narrow bank that places all deposits on reserve at the central bank. If this were achieved, USDC would become a cryptocurrency fully backed by the Federal Reserve. Circle would profit off the interest that the Fed pays on bank reserves. Previous attempts by other companies to do narrow banking in the US have failed as the Fed doesn’t like the idea. Circle has yet to initiate the process of applying to be a bank.
Continue reading Could Circle Create a U.S.-backed digital Currency
Here is an up to date chart of “Who is buying Treasuries”. The rising blue line at the bottom are Federal Reserve Banks. The falling red line just above it are foreign investors. The green line up high are private investors. When the blue line crosses the red line then the green line will drop. US Treasuries will plummet. Yields will shoot straight up forming a hockey stick on the chart. Gold, silver, oil and other commodities will skyrocket. All talk of MMT will end. A new chapter of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds will be written.
Continue reading This Is When The Dollar Collapses (Watch This Chart)
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.
By BINYAMIN APPELBAUMNOV. 12, 2016
WASHINGTON — Paul A. Volcker, the Federal Reserve chairman, received an urgent warning two weeks after Ronald Reagan won the 1980 presidential election. Some of the president-elect’s advisers, he was told, wanted to abolish the central bank and replace it with a computer program that would manage interest rates and monetary policy.
Today, a Democratic Fed leader is once again bracing to see whether victorious and emboldened Republicans will try to overhaul the central bank.
In almost three years as the Fed’s chairwoman, Janet L. Yellen has led an aggressive campaign to stimulate economic growth. Donald J. Trump, the president-elect, has embraced criticism that the Fed is causing more problems than it is solving, and he has surrounded himself with advisers who would like to rein in the institution that has the greatest influence over the direction of the nation’s economy.
Mr. Trump can fill a majority of the Fed’s seven-member board with his own nominees over the next 18 months, including replacing Ms. Yellen in February 2018. He also could work with Congress on new constraints, including some form of an old idea on the right that a formula should dictate the Fed’s movements of interest rates.
Robin Wigglesworth
Gathering for the first time after their epoch-ending decision to raise interest rates in December, the backdrop couldn’t be more different for Federal Reserve policy officials.
The long-awaited rate increase went smoothly, but simmering concerns over China, the global economy as a whole, deflating commodities and financial market valuations have since risen to the fore. Even fund managers that were relaxed about slightly tighter monetary policy last month are now wondering whether that was complacent.
“It is reasonable for investors to wonder whether Fed’s December rate hike was a policy error,” admits Bob Michele, chief investment officer of JPMorgan Asset Management. “Historically the Fed has raised rates because either growth or inflation was uncomfortably high. This time is different — growth is slow; wage growth is limited; deflation is being imported.”
Perhaps most of all, many investors now fret that they are operating without a safety net they had grown attached to during the post-financial crisis era.
https://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/fcb4202a-c04d-11e5-846f-79b0e3d20eaf.html#axzz3yOZYWeNT
Fed Chair Yellen had a health scare during a speech, but she’s feeling fine now
Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen gave a scare Thursday while giving a speech on monetary policy and inflation at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Near the end of her prepared remarks, Yellen appeared to be experiencing some physical discomfort. She paused several times to cough before saying she would stop.
“[I]f the economy surprises us, our judgments about appropriate monetary policy will change,” she said. “Let me stop there. Thank you.”
She gathered her notes, gave several smiles, and stuck around to be presented with a gift before she made her way offstage.
Several news outlets reported that she proceeded to receive medical attention, but now she seems to be in the clear.
https://www.businessinsider.com/fed-chair-receiving-medical-attention-2015-9