Federal Reserve’s William Dudley sees inflation staying low despite rise in hiring September 22, 2014 Unemployment can continue falling to unusually low levels without risking dangerously high inflation, Federal Reserve policymaker William Dudley said yesterday. Inflation has been running below the Federal Reserve’s target for more than two years, meaning there may be more room than expected to allow growth to surge before any rate rises. Dudley is already considered [...]
US Federal Reserve tapers and suggests interest rates could get a hike September 17, 2014 The US Federal Reserve revealed last night that another of its senior officials has opposed a pledge to keep rates at record lows, while projections suggest that borrowing costs could rise faster than had been expected. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted eight to two to maintain the federal funds rate at the zero [...]
Federal Reserve: US interest rates to remain near zero September 17, 2014 The Federal Reserve has stuck to its pledge to keep interest rates near zero for a "considerable time" after its asset purchase program ends next month. In a statement following the Fed’s Open Market Committee, the US central bank also announced it had sliced a further $10bn from the programme, leaving it with monthly [...]
Fed offers hints at potential for early rate hike August 20, 2014 THE FEDERAL Reserve may raise interest rates at a faster pace than currently expected, if the country’s recent rapid growth continues. Minutes from the latest meeting of the US central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) said yesterday that “it might become appropriate to begin removing monetary policy accommodation sooner than they currently anticipated” if [...]
Fed minutes: what you need to know August 20, 2014 The Federal Reserve has released the minutes from its 29-30 July meeting on monetary policy. As with the minutes published by the Bank of England earlier today, there was a certain amount of dissent from some of those present regarding the key issue of interest rate rises. From the release: Some participants viewed the actual [...]
Fed intends to keep interest rates low long after tapering ends July 30, 2014 Today's dovish monetary policy statement from the Federal Reserve confirmed expectations that it would look to delay the hiking of interest rates for a long time after tapering ends. It affirmed its commitment to stimulating the economy, saying that it wants to hold short-term interest rates near zero until well into 2015. Also [...]
Fed chair Janet Yellen defends low interest rates amid concern over frothy prices July 16, 2014 Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen held the line during a grilling from US politicians yesterday, arguing that the economic climate meant that very low interest rates were still appropriate. “If the Fed [and Yellen] is going make a change in rhetoric, it is likelier to come at the September meeting, because that is the next [...]
Federal Reserve sees social media and biotech valuations as “substantially stretched” July 15, 2014 The Federal Reserve has joined the voices calling out biotech and social media stocks as over-priced. In its Monetary Policy Report, the Fed says "valuation metrics in some sectors do appear substantially stretched," singling out smaller firms in both social media and biotechnology. So what valuation metrics might the Fed be using? The most popular [...]
Top economists aren’t convinced by Republican proposal for Federal Reserve monetary policy rule July 14, 2014 Economists aren't impressed by the latest bright idea out of Washington. A Republican proposal to have the Federal Reserve bound by a formal rule, that would mandate a relationship between the Federal funds rate and macroeconomic measures, is failing to win many fans among academic economists. Those behind the legislation are fans of economists like [...]
Fed minutes: QE stimulus to end in October July 9, 2014 The US Federal Reserve plans to end its program of quantitative easing in October according to minutes released from meetings in June. US markets dipped briefly on the news but quickly moved higher. The end of the bond buying program which began in September 2012 has already slowed by $10bn each month and the US [...]