Hoenig Wants the Federal Reserve to Adopt A Flexible Policy Stance

On Friday, Nightly Business Report’s Susie Gharib interviewed Thomas Hoenig, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Gharib focused on Hoenig’s objection to the latest Federal Reserve statement on monetary policy. Hoenig basically explained that he wants the Fed to adopt a flexible policy stance now that the economy appears to be recovering: … Read more

Federal Reserve Will Wait At Least Six More Months Before Raising Rates

For those people counting down to the first rate hike from the Federal Reserve, New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley offered an interpretation of “extended period” for Susie Gharib of Nightly Business Report: “GHARIB: Bill, everybody wants to know what do you mean by extended period? Would you please define that for us? DUDLEY: … Read more

Disappointing December Jobs Report May Signal An End to the Dollar’s Relief Rally

The dollar’s recent relief rally stalled out December 23 (see chart below), and December’s disappointing jobs report may have officially ended it. The apparent working thesis supporting the dollar’s relief rally has been an expectation that an imminent recovery in the labor market would motivate the Fed to raise interest rates sometime soon. December’s disappointing … Read more

Bernanke Absolves Monetary Policy During the Housing Bubble

(repost from January 4, 2010) Yesterday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association in Atlanta, Georgia. In his speech titled “Monetary Policy and the Housing Bubble,” Bernanke presented statistical (econometric) analyses to demonstrate that monetary policy contributed very little to the recent housing bubble in the U.S. … Read more

Bernanke On Gold: Higher Prices Reflect Commodity Fundamentals, Not Higher Inflation Expectations

During recent re-confirmation hearings for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, U.S. Senator Jim Bunning – a frequent critic of the Federal Reserve – asked Bernanke several questions about gold prices. Bunning’s questions appear targeted at prodding Bernanke into acknowledging that inflation expectations are much higher than the Federal Reserve’s current estimation. Bunning also uses high … Read more