Federal Reserve
Lower Dollar Ahead of FOMC Release
June 10, 2020
The Federal Open Market Committee reviewed U.S. monetary policy yesterday and today and will release a statement at 14:00 EDT (18:00 GMT) and updated forecasts. These will be followed by Chairman Powell’s press conference at 14:30. The 0-0.25% federal funds target will not be changed, but the forecasts, which ordinarily are revised quarterly, will be […] More
Shock and Awe from the Federal Reserve Meets a Skeptical Market
March 23, 2020
A series of statements released today at 12:00 GMT and prior to the North American start of trading represent an extraordinary array of quantitative monetary stimulus (QE) that is likely to surpass the size employed during the Great Recession. The intent is forestall an evaporation of financial market liquidity, to ensure that companies otherwise sound […] More
FOMC Delivers an Unscheduled Rate Cut
March 3, 2020
The Federal Open Market Committee made an emergency 50-basis point cut of the federal funds target to 1.0-1.25%. The announcement was flashed at 15:00 GMT (10:00 local time) and was decided by a 10-0 vote. A rate reduction at the March 18th meeting had been priced into the market, and a further move then remains […] More
Bank of Canada: No Rate Change but Tighter Forward Guidance than Predicted
January 9, 2019
Canadian monetary policy remains in a tightening cycle intended to converge on rate neutrality. There have already been five 25-basis point hikes of the overnight rate target beginning in July 2017 and with follow-up moves in September 2017, then January, July and October of 2018. The big decline in the global price of oil resulted […] More
Three Shocks Slam Global Financial Markets
December 11, 2015
Stocks are plunging and the 10-year Treasury yield fell seven basis points today in response to three developments. Oil prices fell 1.2% to $36.33 per barrel. Commodities were hit by a projection from the International Energy Agency that the global oil surplus will persist for another year. China’s central bank website announced plans for the […] More
Might the Dollar Finally Be Embarking on a Substantial Uptrend?
August 6, 2014
For some time now, the potential for significant dollar appreciation against other advanced country currencies has been widely apparent based on divergent monetary policies and the greater economic vulnerability of Europe and Japan to a geopolitical landscape that’s deteriorating by the the week. If the dollar is has begun a big move, these remain early […] More
Uneventful FOMC Meeting as Expected
April 30, 2014
A statement released after the two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting this week reads almost identically to the prior March 19 statement. The few changes made involved the first paragraph mostly, which deals with the committee’s view of economic conditions. As at the three prior meetings in December, January and March, monthly purchases of mortgage-backed […] More
FOMC Plows Forward with Measured Tapering
January 29, 2014
The decision to cut monthly purchases of mortgage-backed securities and longer-term Treasury Securities by $5 billion apiece matched analyst and investor expectations exactly and brings the cumulative combined lessening of quantitative stimulus to $20 billion per month from $85 billion to a new level of $65 billion. The $85 billion amount was introduced in September […] More
Fed Chairman Succession Timelines
July 17, 2013
It seems nearly certain that Ben Bernanke will not serve a third consecutive four-year term as Fed Chairman. His stewardship ends on January 31, 2014. Fed Chairmen are appointed by the president, subject to senate confirmation. Bernanke’s immediate predecessors were Paul Volcker and Alan Greenspan. The selection of Greenspan was announced by President Reagan on […] More
Bernanke Press Conference Highlights
December 12, 2012
Several questions were directed at the fiscal cliff, a term first suggested by Bernanke. He felt the metaphor was still good and didn’t support the position of some that if a deal can be reached a couple of weeks into 2013 that the damaging effect would be only slight. He reiterated that the Fed doesn’t […] More
