Federal Reserve

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US Reaps Profit as Banks Pay Back TARP Funds

Fed pulls in $14B from loan programs

(Newser) - When the government spent some $240 billion last year to help avert financial disaster, the idea of making a profit from the TARP funds invested in teetering banks looked like a long shot. Now, however, profits from eight banks who’ve paid back the cash have totaled some $4 billion,...

ID-Theft Ring Victimized Bernanke
ID-Theft Ring Victimized Bernanke
Aug 27, 2009 2:55 PM CDT

ID-Theft Ring Victimized Bernanke

Thieves used pickpocketed IDs, checkbooks for fraud

(Newser) - No less a public figure than the chairman of the Federal Reserve was one of 500 individuals victimized by an identity-theft ring that combined technologically sophisticated methods with old-fashioned thievery to bilk $2.1 million from consumers and financial institutions, Newsweek reports. The ringleader of the group, Clyde Austin Gray...

Bernanke's Next Challenge: Undoing His Own Work

Rate cuts, other moves must eventually be reversed

(Newser) - In his first term as Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke played the role of savior, lending hundreds of billions to banks and businesses, backing the mortgage market, and cutting interest rates. In his second, Bernanke will have to turn “strict disciplinarian,” reversing earlier moves to respond to a massive...

Frank Rewriting Wall Street Rules as Public Yawns

(Newser) - Barney Frank is working on the biggest legislation of his career, and no one seems to care. Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is preparing for markup sessions on a bill to revolutionize America’s financial regulatory structure. “It’s been eclipsed obviously in the public’...

Obama Nominates Bernanke for 2nd Term

Prez: he 'approached a financial system on the verge of collapse with calm and wisdom'

(Newser) - President Obama has nominated Ben Bernanke for a second term as Federal Reserve chairman, saying Bernanke “led the Fed through the one of the worst financial crises that this nation and this world have ever faced,” the AP reports. “Ben approached a financial system on the verge...

Obama Wants 2nd Fed Term for Bernanke

(Newser) - President Obama will nominate Ben Bernanke for a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Wall Street Journal reports. Obama, who will make the announcement tomorrow, credits Bernanke with “pulling the economy back from the brink of depression,” White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said...

Bankers Saved the World: Bernanke

(Newser) - Ben Bernanke patted himself on the back today for helping to save the world from a complete economic meltdown, MarketWatch reports. Facing public outrage and the prospect of President Obama dumping him in 6 months, the Fed chair said at a retreat in Wyoming that the world’s central banks...

Bernanke: Hero on Wall Street, Despised in Congress

(Newser) - Ben Bernanke can expect a standing ovation from economists at a Fed retreat in Jackson Hole today—for the financial establishment, the Fed chairman is a superhero, hailed for his aggressive, unprecedented actions to stem the worst crisis in generations. Yet on Capitol Hill he's far less popular, and the...

Dow Off 77 on Consumer Data
 Dow Off 77 on Consumer Data 
MARKETS
Aug 14, 2009 3:19 PM CDT

Dow Off 77 on Consumer Data

(Newser) - Stocks dipped today on worse-than-expected information about consumer sentiment, the Wall Street Journal reports. A Reuters index dropped 3 points instead of the anticipated 2-point rise. A downward spiral has been evident since the Fed announced it would not raise interest rates Wednesday. “A day like today has been...

Change the Fed, Keep Bernanke

 Change the Fed, 
 Keep Bernanke 
OPINION
Aug 14, 2009 6:52 AM CDT

Change the Fed, Keep Bernanke

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve is ripe for some major changes everywhere but at the top, Steven Pearlstein writes for the Washington Post. It's finally clear that the job "involves a lot more than adjusting interest rates," and we've seen the drain that happened when we "left the previous...

Fed Spurs Rally; Dow Up 120
 Fed Spurs Rally; Dow Up 120 
MARKETS
Aug 12, 2009 3:14 PM CDT

Fed Spurs Rally; Dow Up 120

Homebuilders gain as Toll Brothers reports strong profit

(Newser) - Stocks surged to gains before and after the Fed’s relatively positive report on the economy, the Wall Street Journal reports. Most investors took the Fed’s decision to end its buying of long-term Treasurys as a sign that the economy is returning to normal. Financials led gains, along with...

Fed Holds Rates, Sees Economy 'Leveling Out'

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve has slowed its recovery-minded plan to purchase Treasury securities but said that "economic activity is leveling out," the Wall Street Journal reports. The Fed’s policy committee hopes to complete its $300 billion purchase of Treasury securities by October—originally slated for September—and also...

Economists: Recession's Over, Bring Back Bernanke

(Newser) - Economists give Ben Bernanke a big hug in a new Wall Street Journal survey. Most declare that the recession is over and nearly all in the group of 53 think President Obama should keep Bernanke in charge of the Fed when his term expires in January. Twenty-seven economists say the...

Rally Loses Steam; Dow Off 32
 Rally Loses Steam; Dow Off 32 
MARKETS
Aug 10, 2009 3:26 PM CDT

Rally Loses Steam; Dow Off 32

Freddie Mac sees shares rise 122% on earnings

(Newser) - Stocks wavered on the heels of last week’s rally, closing slightly lower as investors wait for comments from the Fed, the Wall Street Journal reports. Federal Reserve policy makers will conclude a 2-day meeting on Wednesday and perhaps issue a new assessment of the economic recovery. Despite a broad...

Reappoint Bernanke: Krugman
 Reappoint Bernanke: Krugman 
Aug 10, 2009 11:21 AM CDT

Reappoint Bernanke: Krugman

(Newser) - If there’s any justice, Ben Bernanke will get another go-around at the helm of the Federal Reserve, Paul Krugman tells Bloomberg. “He’s earned the right to a second term,” the Nobel laureate says. “When the banking system failed to deliver capital where it was needed,...

Geithner Flips Out, Tongue-Lashes Regulators

(Newser) - The heat is apparently getting to Tim Geithner. At a meeting last week with high-level financial regulators, the treasury secretary indulged in a potty-mouthed diatribe about delays in the administration's highly touted plan to overhaul the regulatory system, declaring, "enough is enough," the Wall Street Journal reports....

Trading Rules Help Wall Street Pick Fed's Pocket

Transparency concerns let banks pick Bernanke's pocket

(Newser) - Banks across Wall Street have made hefty profits trading with the Federal Reserve—often their only customer as the financial crisis ground trading to a halt—and government officials and finance execs are now asking whether Ben Bernanke is making tough enough deals. The central bank, unlike individual or corporate...

Fed Sees More Signs of Recovery

(Newser) - The economy is finally beginning to show signs of stabilizing in some parts of the US, bolstering hopes of a broader-based recovery this year. A Federal Reserve snapshot of economic conditions issued today finds that most of the Fed's 12 regions indicated either that "the pace of decline has...

70% of US Doesn't Like the Fed
 70% of US Doesn't Like the Fed 
Jul 28, 2009 7:18 AM CDT

70% of US Doesn't Like the Fed

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve is the least trusted of all federal agencies, a new Gallup poll finds. Just 30% of respondents said the Fed was doing a “good” or “excellent” job, giving it the lowest score out of nine agencies included in the poll. That’s a steep decline...

Bernanke Defends Bailouts in First Fed Town Hall Meeting

(Newser) - Fed chief Ben Bernanke fielded questions from the public in an unprecedented town hall meeting last night, the Kansas City star reports. Sounding every bit like a candidate running for office, Bernanke defended his moves during the recession and financial crisis, saying he had learned from his predecessors' mistakes in...

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