Bernanke claims that Fed’s policies are helping main street more than Wall Street July 17, 2013 Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has said that main street is doing better than Wall Street, when challenged on what the central banker is doing for the real economy. Bernanke said that the Fed is very focused on main street, and is trying to create jobs and make housing affordable, and that low rates created [...]
Bernanke warns that Congress needs to sort out long-term fiscal issues July 17, 2013 Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has said that fiscal policy has been focused too much on the short run, to the expense of the long run. Bernanke said that in the short therm the sequester and tax increases will see growth reduced by 1.5 percentage points in 2013, i.e. the US might experience 2.0 per [...]
Euro falls sharply against the dollar on Bernanke’s comment July 17, 2013 The euro has fallen sharply against the dollar as Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke spoke today about monetary policy (live stream here). The euro broke below 1.31 against the dollar. Haresh Menghani, senior market analyst at Admiral Markets, has said that a fall below this level could leave the pair "vulnerable to re-test 1.2800 trend-line [...]
Bank of Canada minus Carney holds interest rates steady July 17, 2013 The Bank of Canada has left its interest rate target unchanged at one per cent as expected. It is the first decision made without the leadership of current Bank of England governor Mark Carney and the first under new governor Stephen Poloz. While US economic expansion is encouraging and Japanese fiscal and monetary stimulus is [...]
European stocks on rollercoaster ride July 17, 2013 The main European stock indices are all looking fairly similar today, with the FTSE starting strong after solid results from BHP Billiton, before following the DAX and CAC down after major downwards revisions and a contraction in eurozone output coupled with a unanimous vote from the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee to hold quantitative [...]
Italian central bank revises down growth forecast July 17, 2013 The Italian central bank has said it expects a slowdown in the economy, revising down its prediction for gross domestic product (GDP) for 2013 to -1.9 per cent from -1.0 per cent, reflecting weaker than expected productivity in the first half of the year. The Banca d’Italia points to “a slowdown in world trade and [...]
US housing starts plunge despite upbeat housebuilder confidence July 17, 2013 US housing starts have dropped like a rock despite expectations of improvement in June. Housing starts fell from 0.928m (revised from 0.914m) to 0.836m despite forecasts of an increase to 0.960m. This conflicts somewhat with housebuilder confidence data seen yesterday, the NAHB Housing Market index hit a January 2006 high, with its index of prospective [...]
Bernanke says Fed may taper QE in 2013 but monetary policy is not on a preset course July 17, 2013 Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has said in prepared testimony that the Fed may taper quantitative easing (QE) – reducing the rate of expansion of the Fed's balance sheet – in 2013, and halt QE altogether around mid-2014. Crucially, Bernanke said that monetary policy is not on a "preset course": I emphasize that, because our [...]
Cost cutting and strong sales and trading performance boost Bank of America profits July 17, 2013 Profits at Bank of America jumped by 63 per cent in the second quarter of the year thanks to its cost-cutting programme and higher revenues from equities sales and trading. Net income rose to $3.57bn or 32 cents per share, up from $2.10bn or 19 cents per share the year before. Analysts had expected earnings [...]
Goldman sees jump in euro against dollar July 17, 2013 Goldman Sachs has forecast the euro to rise against the dollar to $1.40 within the next twelve months. The median estimate of 66 analysts from a Bloomberg survey, by comparison, is a move to $1.24 by the middle of 2014. Thomas Stolper, chief currency strategist at Goldman Sachs in London, said that while the dollar [...]