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...

Will the Fed Be Able to Rein in Volatile Markets?

By Patti Domm, CNBC

The Federal Reserve is expected to fine tune its policy message when it meets in the coming week, but whether it is able to rein in volatile financial markets is another matter. The two-day Fed...
Goldman Sachs CEO: 'Responsibility' to Challenge Dodd-Frank

By Josh Boak, The Fiscal Times

Goldman Sachs CEO and Chairman Lloyd Blankfein doesn’t hate the 2010 overhaul of financial regulations known as Dodd-Frank. He just thinks the rules could benefit from his advice.
Are Fixed-Rate Government-Backed Mortgages Over?

By Josh Boak, The Fiscal Times

Congress has restarted its slog about the fate of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—at stake could be the future of your standard issue 30-year, fixed rate mortgage.
The 5 People Who Could Succeed Ben Bernanke

By Reuters

Continuity will be a big factor as the White House begins to think about who should succeed Federal Reserve chairman Bernanke if, as widely expected, he steps down when his second term as chairman...
May Jobs Report No Cause for Market Jubilation

By Suzanne McGee, The Fiscal Times

The news that employers created 175,000 net jobs during May clearly was enough to get investors excited, but the numbers simply don’t merit this kind of relief.

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