FOMC

As US Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee meets this afternoon, few expect any surprises coming out of Bernanke's statement. Specifically, Bernanke is not expected to back out of the Fed's commitment to maintain low rates through the end of 2014. The Fed is expected to do is to...

Former Federal Reserve governor Lawrence Meyer thinks today's Fed meeting will have nothing of value to offer where the market interest is the highest: policy. "The Fed will have to be cautious about upgrading. It will have to acklowledge that the labor markets have improved. It will have to...

Earlier, Dallas Federal Reserve's Governor Richard Fisher appeared on CNBC Squawk Box and fielded a number of questions. Fisher stated that he would be pleased when the Fed is at the point where it can stop using emergency tools (quantitative easing) and go back to simply adjusting interest rates...

Since the turn of the year, nearly every asset class has been on a tremendous bull run. Precious metals in particular have benefited, as gold and silver have rallied back from their recent lows. Gone are calls for a "gold bubble". Gold has risen in price throughout January and now sits near $1745...

FOMC Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen said that the Federal Reserve will start a new round of bank "stress tests" in "a couple of weeks", as there are concerns about the European debt crisis, and how it might affect the U.S. financial system. In comments captured by Reuters, Yellen said, "Concerns...

We just got the full statement from the FOMC and there were no changes, except one major one. We went from three dissenters to one. The one was a dove, Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans. Evans said that he was in favor of additional easing, which shows that Evans is a bigger dove...

Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in September indicates that economic growth strengthened somewhat in the third quarter, reflecting in part a reversal of the temporary factors that had weighed on growth earlier in the year. Nonetheless, recent indicators point to...

Larry Meyer, former member of the Federal Open Market Committee and founder of Macroeconomic Advisers, was just on CNBC talking about what he thinks might happen at the Federal Reserve meeting later today. When the Fed comes out with its next decision at 12:15 p.m. today, Meyer said that he wants...

Today is the latest meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, and honestly very few people know what to expect out of the meeting. Also keep in mind that this is Ben Bernanke's third press conference, after the FOMC decided to have Bernanke give press conferences to discuss monetary policy,...

Stocks have been rallying sharply, and bonds have been selling off in one of the most powerful rallies in some time, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining more than 1,000 points in seven trading days. It has been hard to justify the reason for the move upwards, as nothing has really changed...

The Federal Open Market Committee released its minutes from the September 21 FOMC meeting, and the minutes were slightly more positive than they have been in recent meeting. Some members want to retain the option for additional easing, including another round of quantitative easing if the action...

“Supervision, oversight and monitoring of our own banking systems. Standing ready to provide backstop liquidity if necessary,” -Ben Bernanke's depiction of the tools of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), as stated in his Joint economic committee speech to congress on the state of the...

On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee released its decision on interest rates. The FOMC opted to leave rates unchanged, as nearly all analysts had anticipated. Rather, the key news from the meeting was that the FOMC had decided to conduct a second "Operation Twist." Under the plan, the...

Last night, in the Wall Street Journal, journalist Jon Hilsenrath essentially told us what we already know. The Federal Reserve is going to act with additional easing. Hilsenrath has long been the preferred mouthpiece of the Bernanke Fed, and to have him write an article like this is not...

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water. Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans was just out making some extremely dovish comments, and there is a chance he could be more dovish then the ultimate dove: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Evans, 53, speaking in...