Federal Reserve

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Bernanke: Recession 'Very Likely Over'

(Newser) - Fed chief Ben Bernanke said today that the worst recession since the 1930s is "very likely over at this point." However, "it's still going to feel like a weak economy for some time," he warned, and unemployment will almost certainly rise. He spoke today to the...

Fed Has Field of Economics in Its Pocket
Fed Has Field of Economics in Its Pocket
OPINION

Fed Has Field of Economics in Its Pocket

Central bank keeps vast number of thinkers on the payroll

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve has essentially bought out the economics profession, writes Ryan Grim in a Huffington Post investigation. The Fed employs or contracts with so many economists that it's a "career liability" for any independent-minded one to criticize policy, writes Grim. This might explain why the Fed has largely...

Greenspan: 'Crisis Will Happen Again'
Greenspan: 'Crisis Will Happen Again'
INTERVIEW

Greenspan: 'Crisis Will Happen Again'

Former Fed chairman denies responsibility, blames human nature

(Newser) - Another financial crisis is inevitable "unless somebody can find a way to change human nature," says Alan Greenspan in an interview with the BBC. The former Fed chairman—who has faced stinging criticism for his own role in precipitating the 2008-09 global recession—denied any responsibility for the...

Bank of America Ready to Repay $20B in Bailout Cash

But bank haggles with Treasury, Fed over fee for loss-sharing deal

(Newser) - Bank of America may become the latest institution to pay back a portion of its bailout money, with an eye toward escaping Washington's scrutiny of its pay packages. BofA isn't ready to pay back $45 billion in first-round TARP funds, the Wall Street Journal reports, but wants to start with...

US Reaps Profit as Banks Pay Back TARP Funds

Fed pulls in $14B from loan programs

(Newser) - When the government spent some $240 billion last year to help avert financial disaster, the idea of making a profit from the TARP funds invested in teetering banks looked like a long shot. Now, however, profits from eight banks who’ve paid back the cash have totaled some $4 billion,...

ID-Theft Ring Victimized Bernanke
ID-Theft Ring Victimized Bernanke

ID-Theft Ring Victimized Bernanke

Thieves used pickpocketed IDs, checkbooks for fraud

(Newser) - No less a public figure than the chairman of the Federal Reserve was one of 500 individuals victimized by an identity-theft ring that combined technologically sophisticated methods with old-fashioned thievery to bilk $2.1 million from consumers and financial institutions, Newsweek reports. The ringleader of the group, Clyde Austin Gray...

Bernanke's Next Challenge: Undoing His Own Work

Rate cuts, other moves must eventually be reversed

(Newser) - In his first term as Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke played the role of savior, lending hundreds of billions to banks and businesses, backing the mortgage market, and cutting interest rates. In his second, Bernanke will have to turn “strict disciplinarian,” reversing earlier moves to respond to a massive...

Frank Rewriting Wall Street Rules as Public Yawns

(Newser) - Barney Frank is working on the biggest legislation of his career, and no one seems to care. Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is preparing for markup sessions on a bill to revolutionize America’s financial regulatory structure. “It’s been eclipsed obviously in the public’...

Obama Nominates Bernanke for 2nd Term

Prez: he 'approached a financial system on the verge of collapse with calm and wisdom'

(Newser) - President Obama has nominated Ben Bernanke for a second term as Federal Reserve chairman, saying Bernanke “led the Fed through the one of the worst financial crises that this nation and this world have ever faced,” the AP reports. “Ben approached a financial system on the verge...

Obama Wants 2nd Fed Term for Bernanke

(Newser) - President Obama will nominate Ben Bernanke for a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Wall Street Journal reports. Obama, who will make the announcement tomorrow, credits Bernanke with “pulling the economy back from the brink of depression,” White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said...

Bankers Saved the World: Bernanke

(Newser) - Ben Bernanke patted himself on the back today for helping to save the world from a complete economic meltdown, MarketWatch reports. Facing public outrage and the prospect of President Obama dumping him in 6 months, the Fed chair said at a retreat in Wyoming that the world’s central banks...

Bernanke: Hero on Wall Street, Despised in Congress

(Newser) - Ben Bernanke can expect a standing ovation from economists at a Fed retreat in Jackson Hole today—for the financial establishment, the Fed chairman is a superhero, hailed for his aggressive, unprecedented actions to stem the worst crisis in generations. Yet on Capitol Hill he's far less popular, and the...

Dow Off 77 on Consumer Data
 Dow Off 77 on Consumer Data 
MARKETS

Dow Off 77 on Consumer Data

(Newser) - Stocks dipped today on worse-than-expected information about consumer sentiment, the Wall Street Journal reports. A Reuters index dropped 3 points instead of the anticipated 2-point rise. A downward spiral has been evident since the Fed announced it would not raise interest rates Wednesday. “A day like today has been...

Change the Fed, Keep Bernanke

 Change the Fed, 
 Keep Bernanke 
OPINION

Change the Fed, Keep Bernanke

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve is ripe for some major changes everywhere but at the top, Steven Pearlstein writes for the Washington Post. It's finally clear that the job "involves a lot more than adjusting interest rates," and we've seen the drain that happened when we "left the previous...

Fed Spurs Rally; Dow Up 120
 Fed Spurs Rally; Dow Up 120 
MARKETS

Fed Spurs Rally; Dow Up 120

Homebuilders gain as Toll Brothers reports strong profit

(Newser) - Stocks surged to gains before and after the Fed’s relatively positive report on the economy, the Wall Street Journal reports. Most investors took the Fed’s decision to end its buying of long-term Treasurys as a sign that the economy is returning to normal. Financials led gains, along with...

Fed Holds Rates, Sees Economy 'Leveling Out'

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve has slowed its recovery-minded plan to purchase Treasury securities but said that "economic activity is leveling out," the Wall Street Journal reports. The Fed’s policy committee hopes to complete its $300 billion purchase of Treasury securities by October—originally slated for September—and also...

Economists: Recession's Over, Bring Back Bernanke

(Newser) - Economists give Ben Bernanke a big hug in a new Wall Street Journal survey. Most declare that the recession is over and nearly all in the group of 53 think President Obama should keep Bernanke in charge of the Fed when his term expires in January. Twenty-seven economists say the...

Rally Loses Steam; Dow Off 32
 Rally Loses Steam; Dow Off 32 
MARKETS

Rally Loses Steam; Dow Off 32

Freddie Mac sees shares rise 122% on earnings

(Newser) - Stocks wavered on the heels of last week’s rally, closing slightly lower as investors wait for comments from the Fed, the Wall Street Journal reports. Federal Reserve policy makers will conclude a 2-day meeting on Wednesday and perhaps issue a new assessment of the economic recovery. Despite a broad...

Reappoint Bernanke: Krugman
 Reappoint Bernanke: Krugman 

Reappoint Bernanke: Krugman

(Newser) - If there’s any justice, Ben Bernanke will get another go-around at the helm of the Federal Reserve, Paul Krugman tells Bloomberg. “He’s earned the right to a second term,” the Nobel laureate says. “When the banking system failed to deliver capital where it was needed,...

Geithner Flips Out, Tongue-Lashes Regulators

(Newser) - The heat is apparently getting to Tim Geithner. At a meeting last week with high-level financial regulators, the treasury secretary indulged in a potty-mouthed diatribe about delays in the administration's highly touted plan to overhaul the regulatory system, declaring, "enough is enough," the Wall Street Journal reports....

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