Federal Reserve
Reflections About the Fed on a Snowy Day
February 25, 2010
A key message of Fed Chairman Bernanke’s testimony this week has been that while improved financial market functionality warrant the gradual unwinding of unconventional measures, the economy is not ready for outright monetary tightening. It may be an “extended period” before such a time arrives. The point is not that the recovery that saw GDP […] More
Fed Statement As Expected
December 16, 2009
Analysts weren’t looking for any remarkable initiative in the FOMC statement, and that’s what they got. Economic conditions are better from the standpoint of the employment situation, income growth and financial market conditions, but officials reiterated that “exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate” are likely “for an extended period.” I’d bet this pretty […] More
Vital Market Prices at the Time of Prior FOMC Meetings
December 16, 2009
The FOMC is not expected to change its Fed funds target, nor is the conditional guidance that “exceptionally low rates for and extended period” likely to get modified further. The last statement of November 4 made news by imposing three conditions to that pledge: low resource utilization (which can be determined from the jobless rate […] More
Pre-FOMC Interview With ForexTV
December 15, 2009
In this second interview that I gave to Julie Sinha of ForexTV, I review and interpret the significance of today’s U.S. producer price and industrial production data releases and provide some background on the FOMC’s tendency not to make waves at its final December meeting each year. More
Surprisingly Brisk U.S. Growth This Quarter
December 15, 2009
The dollar’s upturn began with improving market technical support but is now getting fed by economic data, which are highlighting a comparatively stronger U.S. recovery after a recession that, despite being harsh in absolute terms, was not as severe as other regions experienced. In U.S. data released this morning, industrial production registered an advance of […] More
