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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell delivered a stern commitment Friday to halting inflation, warning that he expects the central bank to continue raising interest rates in a way that will cause “some pain” to the U.S. economy. In his much-anticipated annual policy speech at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Powell affirmed that the Fed will “use our tools forcefully” to attack inflation that is still running near its highest level in more than 40 years. Even with a series of four consecutive interest rate increases totaling 2.25 percentage points, Powell said this is “no place to stop or pause” even though benchmark...

Stocks fell sharply Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he will continue to raise rates to fight inflation in his Jackson Hole speech. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 407 points, or 1.22%. The S&P 500 fell 1.5% and the Nasdaq Composite slid 1.84%. Those moves come after a hawkish speech out of the Fed chair as Wall Street sought information on the pace of future interest rate hikes. "Restoring price stability will likely require maintaining a restrictive policy stance for some time. The historical record cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy," Powell said. "It was fine. It...

WASHINGTON—Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on April 14 pushed back on warnings about a rising federal budget deficit and national debt due to an aggressive fiscal response to the pandemic and said the “current level of the debt is very sustainable.”“There’s no question of our ability to service and issue that debt for the foreseeable future,” he said during a virtual interview hosted by the Economic Club of Washington, D.C.He warned, however, that the national debt is growing “meaningfully faster” than the U.S. economy.“That’s by definition, unsustainable over time. It’s a different thing to say that the current level of...

"Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Randal Quarles, the Vice Chairman for Supervision at the Fed, have stated in testimony before Congress that they would be providing transaction level details of their Section 13(3) Emergency Lending Facilities on a regular, ongoing basis. But the three oldest of those facilities, the Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF), the Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF), and the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility (MMLF), which were all created more than four months ago in mid-March, have yet to release any transaction level details to the public. The Fed is required to provide reports every...

Embattled Federal Reserve chairman tells White House officials he'll meet face-to-face with Trump in bid to end feud that left stock markets reeling over fears president will fire him Dow Jones closed up 1,086.25 points, or 4.98 per cent, on Wednesday It was the stock index's largest single-day points gain in U.S. history Follows biggest-ever Christmas Eve plunge for markets on Monday White House officials tried to soothe fears over Trump's fury at Federal Reserve He's upset about rate hikes and reportedly said he wanted to fire the fed chair Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is now telling the White...

The AP is reporting as of now: WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says reports that President Donald Trump’s chief economic adviser is stepping down are “100 percent false.” http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/gary-cohn-not-resigning The rumor is spreading that Gary Cohn, President Trump’s chief economic adviser is resigning, due to conflict concerning the Charlottesville tragedy. However, the AP says it is not true. BUT there is speculation that President Trump has floated the possibility of nominating Cohn to chair the Federal Reserve. There is even an article in VANITY FAIR that speculates that is Cohn’s goal, and it has been his Plan B from...

Call it the Bush-Bernanke rally. After two days of congressional hearings, new Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke delivered a "not-too-hot" and "not-too-cold" testimony that reassured financial markets -- driving up share prices by roughly 1 percent across-the-board, while gold, bonds and the dollar held flat. On the Bush side of the rally, the Senate voted 53-47 this week in favor of extending the president's investor tax cuts on dividends and capital gains. Joining in this breakthrough vote was John McCain, the senator who voted against these tax cuts when they were introduced in 2003. This is an important shift for...

Questions for Ben Bernanke By N. GREGORY MANKIW October 28, 2005; Page A12 As the confirmation hearings for the new Fed chairman approach, senators and their staffs are busy compiling questions for Ben Bernanke. The most intriguing questions, however, are not the ones that come from senators. They are, instead, the questions that Mr. Bernanke must be contemplating quietly on this own. There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that Mr. Bernanke is superbly qualified for the job. I have known Ben for 20 years, and there is not a monetary economist alive who commands more respect among professional...

In a surprise announcement that shocked the economics community, President Bush named Robert McCleskey, his personal tax accountant, to succeed Alan Greenspan. McCleskey, who has little or no track record in the area of monetary policy, will now face the rigors of a grueling confirmation process. Given the defining nature of the appointment and the challenges of filling Greenspan's legendary shoes, some observers were surprised the President chose McCleskey, a man who has never written on anything vaguely related to the Federal Reserve or monetary issues. When asked about why he chose McCleskey the President responded aggressively. "He's a heckuva...

Bush prolongs the Greenspan agony By Peter Eavis 5/27/2004 People often look back and wonder what JFK would have done in Vietnam had he been around to direct the war he got the country into. It will be almost as interesting to see how Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan handles the credit bust that is the likely consequence of the easy-money policies he has implemented as head of the nation's central bank. There is a very high chance that the 78-year-old Greenspan will be around to deal with his own mess, after President Bush renominated him as Fed chairman May 19....

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker is the leading candidate to head an independent panel to investigate allegations of corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program, U.N. diplomats said Wednesday. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday he hoped to make an announcement "in the course of the week" on the panel members. "We are going to investigate these allegations very seriously and with a very thorough independent investigation," he said. Diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States pressed to have an American lead the panel and backed Volcker. Many U.S. lawmakers, who are conducting...

In a future remake of "The Graduate," the phrase replacing "plastics" to be whispered in the ear of the title role is "hedge funds." That's where the action is. The number of such unregulated collections of capital has doubled in the last five years to 8,000. Managers make 20 percent of any profits, and if they bet wrong, simply close up the fund, distribute what's left and start a new one; the liquidation rate is about one-fourth every year. That's why so many of the hottest Wall Streeters are joining the stampede into managing these high-end mutual funds. Because hedge...