Federal-Reserve
Markets Dive After Feds Shun Lehman
The Feds apparently drew the line this weekend regarding financial bailouts for dysfunctional investment banks, shunning Lehman Brothers despite its desperate pleas for help. Sleep deprived officials from the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury, along with beleaguered financial industry chieftains, were huddled in the NY Fed’s fortress-like headquarters in lower Manhattan, trying to avoid [...]
Market Meets Reality
The stock market met reality yesterday – it did not go well. Record high oil prices and a warning about inflation form the Federal Reserve smacked sobriety into U.S. investors. Oil traded at $135 a barrel and the minutes from the Fed’s late April policy meeting implied that further interest rate cuts are unlikely [...]
Inflation: The New Wave- by Greg Strid
An inflationary wave is building around the globe and
it threatens living standards and political stability. Prices
for food, energy and industrial commodities have been
rising steadily for the past few years. (The soaring cost
of food has sparked riots in Bangladesh and China this
year.) There are two main components that are giving
life and breath to the steady rise [...]
Fed Saves Bear
The Federal Reserve broke new ground when it facilitated the purchase of Bear Stearns by JPMorgan Chase. Although Bear is ranked fifth out of the top five US investment banks, it was still counterparty to over $10 trillion in derivatives contracts and swaps. Therefore, the Fed decided it was necessary to accept Bear’s $30 billion [...]
Employment Report Lands with a Thud- by Greg Strid
Thud. That was the sound of January’s dismal payroll
number as it landed in the collective face of overly
optimistic Wall Street economists early Friday morning.
Non-farm payrolls contracted by 17,000 last month, marking
the first decline since the summer of 2003. The “thud†that
was heard around the world’s trading salons was the result
of reality smacking fantasy for a [...]
Beware the Naked Emperor- by Greg Strid
The worst possible employment numbers were revealed
before the stock market’s opening bell this morning. The
U.S. economy managed to create a paltry 18,000 new
jobs in the last month of 2007. The unemployment rate
jumped from 4.7 to 5 percent, although average hourly
wages expanded by 0.4 percent- which is a good deal
more than was expected, and raises fears [...]
The Dow Rocket- by Greg Strid
How about that stock market? In two days the Dow
Jones Industrial Average rocketed higher by over 500
points. On Wednesday alone it added 330 points, or 2.55
percent. That same wonderful day, the tech-heavy
Nasdaq rose by 3.18 percent, and the broader Standard
and Poor’s 500 index increased by 2.86 percent.
The catalyst for this explosive rise in prices [...]
Beware the Sinking Dollar
Watch out for the declining dollar, it means that your purchasing power will decrease and your cost of living will rise sooner than you think. As the stock market gains ground lost in the early August meltdown, the US dollar continues to sink against major world currencies. The price of gold, long used to hedge [...]
Debt Warning
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke warned members of the
Senate Budget Committee last week that a “fiscal crisis†is heading
straight for America if Congress does not take the actions necessary
to reduce the projected growth of federal spending on Social Security,
Medicaid and Medicare.
Mr. Bernanke, a former White House economic advisor to President
Bush, referenced Congressional Budget [...]
