Carney welcomes nomination of former colleague Stanley Fischer as Fed vice chair January 10, 2014 Bank of England governor Mark Carney has shared some kind words for a former colleague, Stanley Fischer (pictured). Carney says that he is "delighted by the prospect of Stan Fischer re-joining the global community of central bankers" as Fischer was nominated to the position of Federal Reserve vice chairman by US President Barack Obama today. [...]
This analyst says the Federal Reserve needs to learn a crucial hockey skill January 10, 2014 The Federal Reserve's job is complex. It has to simultaneously avoid high unemployment while keeping inflation steady, and that can sometimes lead it to cause "new, potentially bigger problems down the road" says Deutsche Bank strategist Oleg Melentyev. That's meant that policy makers have created new and complex monetary tools. Current monetary policy is "creating [...]
Bitcoin wins the heart of libertarian CEO January 10, 2014 Encouraged by positive Senate hearings in November and enthusiastic Bitcoin processors, online retailer Overstock.com has decided to take the plunge and accept the cryptocurrency. In the first 90 minutes of Bitcoin sales, the site received around 150 orders. Overstock took the decision several months earlier than had been planned. The libertarian chief executive of Overstock.com, [...]
What you need to know before the open – 10/01 January 10, 2014 We've got the much-awaited US non-farm payroll report later today, and European markets are expected to open higher this morning. US markets saw no real change overnight. An earlier sell-off saw investors hedging their bets in anticipation of today's data. Morning all. #FTSE called 25 higher this morning. not a lot else hapening as [...]
US growth cuts number of new jobless claims January 9, 2014 THE NUMBER of new claims for US unemployment benefits dipped last week, as the American labour market continues to strengthen. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 330,000 in the week ending on 4 January, according to official statistics released yesterday. Economists had expected them to fall to just 335,000. The [...]
New York Report: Investors wait on jobs report for Fed hints January 9, 2014 US STOCKS ended little changed last night in a choppy session ahead of today’s payrolls report, which may provide insights into whether the Federal Reserve will announce another cut in quantitative easing at its meeting this month. Retail and telecom stocks ranked among the day’s biggest losers. The S&P retail sector index slipped 0.2 per [...]
Fed in no rush to taper but QE is losing force January 8, 2014 MOST of the Federal Reserve’s rate-setting board now believe that the positive effects of quantitative easing are diminishing as purchases continue, while insisting they were in no rush to speed up the new tapering programme. “A majority of participants judged that the marginal efficacy of (QE) purchases was likely declining as purchases continue,” according to [...]
New York Report: US rally fizzles on Fed minutes January 8, 2014 The S&P 500 finished nearly flat yesterday as equity indexes had a muted reaction to the minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting, while Micron’s strong results helped buoy the Nasdaq. Minutes of the Fed’s December 17-18 meeting, after which the US central bank announced its decision to begin trimming its monthly bond [...]
Don’t underestimate Turkey’s turmoil: Not all emerging markets will succeed January 8, 2014 TURKEY’S often-fickle political system may not make its current domestic turmoil seem particularly important. But the country’s troubles hold lessons for the likely success – or failure – of other emerging markets in 2014 and beyond. More and more, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan looks like a man who has outlasted his usefulness. If [...]
US private sector jobs growth highest since November 2012 January 8, 2014 238,000 more people in the US were employed in December than November, according to data released by Automatic Data Processing (ADP). The impressive increase in jobs created in the private sector came in above expectations of 200,000 and is the highest in 13 months. It follows November's rise of 229,000 – which was revised [...]