Articles About Federal Reserve

In a stunning revelation, Bloomberg has obtained 29,000 pages of Federal Reserve documents detailing the largest bailout in American history.  According to an article that will appear in the January issue of Bloomberg Markets magazine, the “Fed didn’t tell anyone which banks were in trouble so deep they required a combined $1.2 trillion on December […]

American companies ordered more heavy machinery, computers and other long-lasting manufactured goods in September, an encouraging sign for the shaky economy.  The increase in demand for these durable goods suggests businesses are staying with investment plans, despite slow growth and a lack of consumer confidence. Durable goods are products expected to last a minimum of […]

Is a 20 percent downpayment on a house or condominium on the horizon?  If some federal regulators get their way, buyers may have to put down $60,000 on a $300,000 house to get the best possible mortgage interest rate.  Although this sets the bar high, regulators believe it will prevent the risky lending practices that […]

Are Americans shopping until they drop again? It could be, judging by the latest government report showing that consumer spending rose by a surprisingly vigorous 0.6 percent in September, even as personal incomes barely grew.  Adjusting for inflation, after-tax income declined slightly by 0.1 percent, according to the Department of Commerce.  The bottom line is […]

Federal regulators have requested public comment on the Volcker Rule — the Dodd-Frank Act restrictions that would ban American banks from making short-term trades of financial instruments for their own accounts and prevent them from owning or sponsoring hedge funds and private-equity funds.  The Volcker rule, released by the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance […]

The strange saga of how a rogue UBS trader lost $2 billion and who has since been fired and charged with fraud and false accounting in a London court has raised questions about the bank’s stability and whether it will retain its clients.  Ghana-born trader Kweku Adoboli was perceived as a polite and snappily dressed […]

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in a long-awaited speech in Jackson Hole, WY, announced no new steps the Fed will take to prop up the shaky U.S. economy.  Rather, he expressed optimism that the economy will continue to recover, based on its inherent strength and from assistance provided by the central bank.  Bernanke restated the Fed’s […]

World Bank President Robert Zoellick believes the world will not slide into a double-dip recession. Zoellick was in Singapore, attending an economic conference amid plummeting world stock prices and worries over a slowdown in U.S. economic growth.  Zoellick believes the United States and the world will avoid a “double-dip” recession, but admitted that growth is […]

Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics, who often discusses the economy, recently said something disturbing and fascinating about the possibility of a double-dip recession.  According to Zandi, it could be the only recession that we will ourselves into.   Zandi was talking about gloomy expectations that make people so nervous that in terms of economics, they freeze.  His […]

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) climbed by 0.5 percent in July, according to a Labor Department report.  That came after a decrease of 0.2 percent the previous month.  Rising inflation cuts consumers’ buying power.  Average pay, when adjusted for inflation, fell in July and has declined by 1.3 percent in the last year.  Over the […]