Posts Tagged ‘Fed’

Here is a graph from the Atlanta Fed weekly Financial Highlights released today (graph as of April 6): Click on graph for larger image in new window. From the Atlanta Fed:European bond spreads (over German bonds) reflectinvestors’ worries about Greece’s sovereign credit risk. On April 6, the spread of the 10-year Greek bond over its German counterpart widened ... Full story

• Short Sellers Do Work of Cops on Doughnut Break  (Bloomberg) • As Financial Reformer, Dodd, Again, Dogged by Appearance of Conflict (ABC News) Questions Over Wife’s Role on the Board of Futures Exchange That Could Benefit From Proposed Derivatives Rules • Chicago Fed National Activity Index is a surprisingly good forecaster of economic activity (Chicago Fed) • Einhorn vs Allied Capital, Round Two: -SEC inspector ... Full story

There will be two key housing reports released this week (existing home sales on Tuesday and new home sales on Wednesday) and plenty of Fed speeches … On Monday, the Chicago Fed will release the February Chicago Fed National Activity Index at 8:30 AM ET. Activity in February was probably sluggish. Also on Monday, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will speak at the ... Full story

Just an update …. From Bloomberg: Federal Reserve Must Disclose Bank Bailout Records (ht jb)The U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled today that the Fed must release records of the unprecedented $2 trillion U.S. loan program … The ruling upholds a decision of a lower-court judge, who in August ordered that the information be released. …The opinion may not be the ... Full story

“In Mr. Greenspan’s 48-page review of the causes and consequences of the crisis, the text of which was released by Brookings, he acknowledged that the regulatory system failed, that Fed officials didn’t take seriously enough the risks building in the subprime mortgage market last decade, that regulators more broadly didn’t demand that banks hold enough capital and that he didn’t do enough to rein in ... Full story

   By Kevin Drawbaugh and Rachelle Younglai    WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve could retain oversight of large bank holding companies under a scaled-back regulatory reform plan being considered by key senators, but important questions remained unanswered, lobbyists said on Sunday.    In a retreat from a bold proposal to streamline a patchwork bank regulatory system, lawmakers were considering keeping supervision ... Full story

WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama is sifting through candidates for three vacant seats on the Federal Reserve Board, including the No. 2 spot that comes open when Vice Chairman Donald Kohn departs on June 23. The White House on Tuesday said Obama will move quickly to fill the vacancies on the seven-person board. The president’s picks will be in position to influence when the ... Full story

The St. Louis Fed has made it official, at least through their lens.  The recession ended in June 2009.  As you read here first in January, late last year the St. Louis Fed discontinued the use of  recession shading (thereby signalling its end) in its graphs as of mid-2009. They have now retooled their Tracking the Recession page to Tracking the Economy, and the default graphs are indexed ... Full story

By Mark Felsenthal WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn, a 40-year veteran of the U.S. central bank, will step down in late June, giving President Barack Obama a chance to reshape the institution. In a letter to Obama released on Monday, Kohn, who has served as the Fed’s No. 2 since June 2006, said he will depart when his current term ... Full story

Trillion-dollar interventions in the economy merit scrutiny by taxpayers and their representatives. by Ron Paul and Jim DeMint For nearly a century the Federal Reserve has operated in the shadows, away from the prying eyes of Congress, journalists and the American people. Created in 1913, the Fed was given enormous responsibility to protect the value of our currency. Yet in the last 96 years the ... Full story