WallStreetBlips - Latest Federal Reserve News Articles

The Federal Reserve under attack: Poked by pitchforks

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:40:32 +0000

Curbs on the Fed’s independence are advancing through Congress POPULISTS and bankers have been at odds since America’s earliest days. Its first two central banks were shuttered in the 19th century in part because of their perceived closeness to financiers. In the wake of the financial crisis those tensions have bubbled back to the surface. The central bank is again in the cross hairs. On November 19th the financial services committee of the House of Representatives voted—over the objections of its chairman, Barney Frank—to add a provision to a regulatory overhaul that would subject the Federal Reserve to examination by Congress’s investigative agency, the Government Accountability Office. Congress gave the GAO authority to audit the Fed in the 1970s, but exempted its monetary-policy and lending decisions. The new provision, pushed by Ron Paul, a conservative Texas Republican and Alan Grayson, a populist Florida Democrat, would eliminate the exemption. This could make ...

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Fed Alters Policy on Directors

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:15:00 +0000

The Fed revised qualification criteria for regional directors' affiliations in the wake of questions raised about a former NY Fed chairman's ties to Goldman Sachs.

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Is the Fed Creating New Bubbles?

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Its easy-money policy has Asia worried. But Bernanke says fears of a speculative surge are overblown

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Business this week

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:39:49 +0000

Ben Bernanke remarked that the Federal Reserve was “closely” watching currency markets, and that the central bank would “help ensure that the dollar is strong”. The weak dollar has caused commodity prices to nudge up, a potential inflationary threat. Any opinion from the chairman of the Fed regarding the value of the greenback is controversial because the Treasury handles exchange-rate policy. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who heads the IMF, called on China to let the yuan appreciate, “the sooner the better”. China tightly controls its currency by pegging it to the dollar—benefiting domestic exports—and has so far resisted pleas to allow it to rise. See article ... >

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Fed May Not Hike Rates Until 2012

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:55:59 +0000

Interest rates will remain unchanged until 2012 if the Fed sticks to the pattern set after the last two recessions, a Federal Reserve bank official said.

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Curbs on Regional Fed Chiefs Advance

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:42:34 +0000

A House committee approved an amendment that the panel's chairman said would curtail the powers of Federal Reserve regional bank presidents.

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Audit Is Critical of N.Y. Fed in AIG Bailout

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:07:23 +0000

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York caved in to demands by AIG's trading partners that they be paid in full for complex securities they had insured with the company, saving some of the world's biggest banks from potentially large losses.

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Audit Is Critical of N.Y. Fed in AIG Bailout

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:20:06 +0000

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in its rush to rescue AIG, left itself little negotiating room before it cut a deal last November with banks that were the giant insurer's trading partners, a new government audit says.

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Fed Slaps Curbs on Overdraft Fees

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:44:40 +0000

The Fed imposed rules making it harder for banks to hit customers with fees for overdrawing their accounts.

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