Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, slated to speak Aug. 31 at the annual monetary policy conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., is under pressure from the hawkish flank of the Fed not to make monetary conditions even easier. A new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas—whose president, Richard Fisher, is reliably hawkish—warns that “there are limits to what central banks can do.”
Central bankers may have averted outright disaster, but they are powerless to do more.
Axel Merk
Merk Hard Currency Fund
To print or not to print? Odds are that Fed Chairman Bernanke has been contemplating this question while drafting his upcoming Jackson Hole speech. The one good thing about policy makers worldwide is that they may be fairly predictable. As such, we present our crystal ball as to what the Fed might be up to next, and what the implications may be for the U.S. dollar and gold.
Evel Knievel was an American daredevil, who attempted over 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps between 1965 and 1980. In 1974, he failed in his attempt to jump across Snake River Canyon in a rocket. He survived, and died in 2007 of pulmonary disease. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke may be about to try to outdo Knievel with an even greater stunt: attempting to leap over the fiscal cliff at the beginning of next year.
Policy makers at the US Federal Reserve are leaning toward more stimulus action "fairly soon" unless economic data turns around, minutes from their meeting three weeks ago showed Wednesday.
Federal Reserve officials spoke with increased urgency at their last meeting about the need to provide more help for a weak US economy. Many felt further support would be needed "fairly soon" unless the economy improved significantly.
By Fred Sheehan
Congressman Barney Frank from Massachusetts is not worth a blog. That goes for his recent proposal, too. It is worth a moment to understand the inconsequentiality of Frank's mischief and, more importantly, the amount of time that can be saved by ignoring Fed pronouncements. To come to the point: there is not one word flushed from the Federal Reserve machinery that bears on monetary policy other than the Fed chairman's propaganda.
“Fed Statement and Bernanke Press Conference Increase Inflation.” You didn’t read that headline after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s first ever press conference last Wednesday. But that is exactly what happened.
By Adam Hamilton
In just a couple months, the US Federal Reserve's second quantitative-easing campaign will wind down. This program has been highly controversial since its birth, so the Fed is under tremendous pressure not to launch a third round of QE. And if QE2 indeed ends on schedule this quarter, it has major implications for the US stock markets.
