Fed Chief Ben Bernanke’s strategy for making risk fashionable is gaining traction. Affluent investors are jumping off the …
quantitative easing
Ben Bernanke’s Heavy Artillery: Will Open-Ended Bond Buying Drive Down Unemployment?
Ben Bernanke and made an open-ended commitment yesterday to purchase mortgage-backed securities at a rate of $40 billion per month, aiming to inflate asset prices and pump fresh credit into the economy. The move answers critics …
Will Ben Bernanke Pull the Trigger on More Bond Buying?
The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy brain trust – the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) — meets again today, and after a month of disappointing economic news following June’s meeting, the financial world is eagerly …
Does Ben Bernanke Have Any Ammo Left?
The Federal Reserve can’t seem to get any love these days. Within hours of the bank’s announcement that it would lower its growth and employment forecasts and continue its “Operation Twist” bond-buying program through the end …
Is the Fed to Blame for JPMorgan’s $2 Billion Blowup?
The JPMorgan $2 billion-trading-loss story is nearly a week old, and the news has predictably gone through the various spin cycles of the political right and left. Initially, progressives pounced on the loss as reason to …
Where the Fed’s Profits Come From
Stimulus policies such as Quantitative Easing have had the side effect of boosting the Fed’s net income, but they have also created a couple of big risks.
U.S. Federal Reserve Earned $77 Billion Profit in 2011
The Federal Reserve turned a profit of $77.4 billion last year, driven by a dramatic increase in its balance sheet due to its policy of buying up securities to help stimulate economic growth. The central bank’s profits came from …
Why the Fed’s Latest Interest-Rate Strategy Won’t Have Much Effect
Sterilized bond buying could help lower interest rates and boost the economy a bit without adding to inflation, but don’t expect a major impact.
Will More Fed Easing Lead to Currency Wars?
Get ready for monetary easing 3.0. That was the takeaway from Fed chair Ben Bernanke’s speech in Minneapolis today. Bernanke didn’t indicate what form easing might take. But any of the options on offer are bound to tick off countries like Brazil and Switzerland, which are struggling to hold down the values of their currencies against the …
