The Fed and Treasury

Will Trump Try to ‘Overrule’ Monetary Policy?

By Mark Thoma

How will the Federal Reserve evolve during Donald Trump’s term as president? Presently, three of the seven positions on the Federal Reserve Board are vacant. These vacancies, along with the...
Why the Treasury Is Ending a Low-Income Retirement Saving Program

By Beth Braverman

Less than two years after the Obama administration rolled out a myRA, a savings program aimed at helping the millions of Americans without access to a retirement account through work, the Trump...
Will Janet Yellen Give Wall Street a Scare?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

For years, the Federal Reserve has been unable to convince the market it's serious about aggressively tightening policy. Janet Yellen and her cohorts have been guilty of "crying wolf," constantly...
Is the Fed About to Wage War on the Rich?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

For years, stocks have been driven relentlessly higher thanks to a single statement that summarized the aggressive central bank largesse since the eurozone crisis flared up in 2012: Policymakers...
Is the Fed Fighting the Trump Rally?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

The evidence is growing that the Federal Reserve’s policymakers are actively working to lean against the stock market's rise, a dramatic reversal from the years of policy support stock market bulls...

The Fed’s Big Mistake: Rate Hikes Hurt US Workers

By David Dayen

Protesters rallied in Washington, New York City and Philadelphia yesterday against an imminent government action that would damage the financial prospects of ordinary workers. And no, it had nothing...
The Fed, the Reality of Tax Cuts, and Donald Trump

By Mark Thoma

For many years, Republicans argued that tax cuts for the wealthy pay for themselves. Cutting taxes on the wealthy, according to Republicans, allows them to keep a larger share of anything new they...
Will Unwinding the Fed’s $4.5 Trillion Balance Sheet Kill the Bull Market?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

Over the last decade, investors have grown accustomed to a Federal Reserve that constantly coddled them, allayed their fears and did everything possible to support the financial markets and asset...
The Key to This Market: Here’s What Will Determine if Stocks Rise or Fall

By Anthony Mirhaydari

For now, instead of putting pressure on risk assets, the Fed's newfound hawkishness is bolstering the reflation trade by lifting the dollar higher and attracting global capital into U.S. assets. Same...
Can Wall Street Handle Higher Interest Rates?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

The Federal Reserve just raised interest rates for the second time in three months, signaling a dramatic quickening of its prior pace. For the first time in more than a decade, Fed policymakers are...

Recovery Efforts Could Speed Dollar’s Decline

By Neil Irwin, The Washington Post

The U.S. government has pulled out all the stops to try to get the economy back on track following the Great Recession: It is running a huge budget deficit, the financial sector has been bailed out,...
Dollar Value: New Low Threatens Long-Term Growth

By James C. Cooper, The Fiscal Times

The dollar has fallen 10 percent since the first hints of QE2. 37 percent China holds about $3 trillion of its currency reserves in dollars. Foreign investors hold 48 percent of marketable Treasury...
The Economy: Lower Growth, Higher Unemployment

By Merrill Goozner, The Fiscal Times

The U.S. economy slumped in the first quarter while the jobless rate continues to rate.
Fed Policy Revealed as Media Grills Bernanke

By Merrill Goozner and John Berry, The Fiscal Times

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke offered only a few surprises at his first regular press conference, where his plain-spoken, professorial delivery contrasted sharply with that of the often inscrutable...
Inflation: Important New Shift in Fed Policy

By Merrill Goozner, The Fiscal Times

Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke in the first-ever press conference for a U.S. central bank chief signaled the Fed is beginning to focus more on inflation than on job creation despite the...

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