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High wage job seekers
Well that was disappointing. The private sector in the US added only 41,000 jobs in May, compared with a 218,000 gain in April, and well below economists expectations. But, hey, gains are gains. And...
View ArticleUS job winners and losers
Today’s jobs numbers, which showed only 41,000 private sector jobs gained, were a disappointment. And where there are disappointments, there are losers. But where there are gains, there are winners!...
View ArticleBeige Book bullets
The Beige book backs Bernanke. The economy’s improving, albeit modestly, according to the aggregation of anecdotal evidence of economic activity in the 12 Federal Reserve districts. No big shockers in...
View ArticleNot quitting just yet
Fans of Donald Kohn, second in command at the Federal Reserve, have a temporary reprieve today. Mr Kohn, who was slated to leave the Fed in a couple weeks, will now stay on perhaps until September....
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Fact-based fears?
The terror of bad economic policy. Some 79 per cent of Americans think the budget deficit is an extremely or very serious threat to the future of the country: the same percentage as for terrorism,...
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Greece downgraded – again
Moody’s just slashed Greece’s rating to Ba1 from A3, a whopping four notches, bringing the ratings agency in line with its peers and the country’s debt squarely into junk territory. Moody’s, along with...
View ArticleCalling the China bubble
If we are indeed facing a double dip downturn, James Bullard’s comments today on the strength of the global recovery will be long remembered. Apparently unconcerned that the Fed (after missing the US...
View ArticleToo-soon-to-address Too-big-to-fail?
Charles Plosser, president of the Philadelphia Fed, today gave a quite interesting speech on developing regulation to address too-big-to-fail financial institutions. His comments (well worth a read) on...
View ArticleFinancial conditions less supportive of growth
No change in the Fed funds rate. And no change in the extended period language. But, lest readers begin seeing monthly Fed funds meetings as uneventful, there has been a relatively interesting change...
View ArticleSearching for foreclosures’ root cause
What’s causing the foreclosure crisis? Is it the correction in home prices across the US from bubble-induced highs or is it, as many claim, a result of lax lending standards and predatory subprime...
View ArticleCreating effective job policy
Sure, sounds good, but will it be effective? That’s the question everyone’s asking today about BP’s latest effort to stem the tide of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. But it could just as...
View ArticleECB to attract €35bn in term deposit facility
The US will have one major advantage before it starts using its term deposit facility in earnest. It gets to see how effectively a similar facility mops up excess liquidity in Europe. Tomorrow, the ECB...
View ArticleManufacturing’s growing, but how fast?
Is the growth in global manufacturing running out of steam? Probably not. But in many countries, it did slow down in May.Read more
View ArticleWho’s walking away from the euro?
The FT reported last week that China was reviewing its holdings of eurozone debt in the wake of the crisis that has swept through the region’s bond markets. China subsequently denied that it was set to...
View ArticleLive blog: The ratings inquiry
The FT’s live coverage of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission’s hearing on the credibility of credit ratings agencies has ended. But read on – a play-by-play of one of the most metaphor-enriched...
View ArticleMore on grasshoppers
For those following the saga: Last week, Martin Wolf wrote a column on the fable of the grasshopper and the ants as an allegory to import-surplus and export-surplus countries. The new moral: don’t be...
View ArticleNon-economic crises and central banks
Q: What do jitters over European debt, stubbornly high unemployment and earthquakes have in common? A: They have all been cited as reasons for central banks to delay interest rate hikes. It’s not just...
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US payroll revisions
Ahead of the past few US nonfarm payroll reports (here, here and here), I’ve made a big deal about revisions to the headline numbers in the months (and years) after they’re initially reported. When the...
View ArticleHawks spread their wings
Thomas Hoenig, president of the Kansas Fed, fully spread his hawkish wings today. In a speech titled “the high cost of exceptionally low rates,” he called for the Federal Reserve to raise rates to 1...
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