21 Sep 2007

Posted at 16:08h in The Friday Brief by
Will the one half percent drop in the Fed Funds rate be enough to turn the ill tide that was gathering strength in the minds of consumers and business leaders? Probably not, but it was certainly a giant step in the right direction. Ben Bernanke showed that he was his own thinker, and importantly, a forward thinker. While he can say that the decision was data driven, previous Fed chairs have waited longer and required considerably more information before making their decisions. In fact, it was popular to say that the Fed drove by looking in the rearview mirror.

07 Sep 2007

Posted at 16:10h in The Friday Brief by
Mr. Bernanke said he was waiting for timely data to inform the Fed about the strength of the economy. He got some today. The U.S.economy unexpectedly lost jobs in August for the first time in four years according to the Labor Department.USEmployers cut 4,000 workers from payrolls in August, compared with a revised gain of 68,000 in July that was smaller than previously reported. Economists were looking for payrolls to rise by 100,000 jobs. The unemployment rate held at 4.6% as almost 600,000 people left the workforce. 

24 Aug 2007

Posted at 16:15h in The Friday Brief by
Currently, the Dow Jones Industrial Index is up 6.4% from its August 16th intra-day low. The Nasdaq is up 7.25%. More to the point, credit markets are showing signs of improving. The four large banks in a show of support for the Fed’s reduction of the lending rate last week each borrowed $500 million at the Fed discount window. Though they paid the money back a short while later, it was an important symbolic show of support. It also indicates that banks have better options than borrowing at 5.75% from the discount window. But there is still not enough data to show whether non-bank mortgage lenders are gaining access to the recently risk-frozen credit markets.

17 Aug 2007

Posted at 16:19h in The Friday Brief by
Today’s news from the Fed provides good reason for why I don’t write the Brief in advance. We collect data all week and I assemble thoughts along the way, but economic winds can occasionally shift so fast that yesterday’s news literally becomes antiquated. A large portion of today’s topic would have been devoted to speculation of the Fed’s next action. Well, this morning they answered the question without ambiguity.