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☆ US futures bounce but bank worries boost safer bets
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Nasdaq futures were up 1.3% and S&P 500 futures up 0.4% following better-than-expected profits at Microsoft (MSFT.O) and a $70 billion stock buyback at Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O). Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META.O) reports later in the day, with U.S. markets on edge over softening U.S. data and fresh regional bank jitters. On Tuesday, First Republic Bank (FRC.N) shares were sold to a record low after the bank disclosed a $100 billion plunge in deposits. The S&P 500 (.SPX) and Nasdaq (.IXIC) both fell heavily while bonds rallied sharply and interest rate futures markets priced in a higher chance of Fed cuts later in the year. Two-year Treasury yields dropped 18.7 basis points on Tuesday and were steady at 3.9365% in Asia.

☆ US futures bounce with earnings but bank worries weigh
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nasdaq futures were up 1.4% and S&P 500 futures up 0.5% following better-than-expected profits at Microsoft (MSFT.O) and a $70 billion stock buyback at Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O). First Republic Bank (FRC.N) shares were sold to a record low after the bank disclosed a $100 billion plunge in deposits. Bonds rallied sharply and interest rate futures markets priced in a higher chance of Fed cuts later in the year. Two-year Treasury yields dropped 18.7 basis points overnight and were steady at 3.9221% in Asia. Brent crude futures hovered at $80.98 a barrel having dropped almost 4% overnight with the risk-averse mood.

☆ Elizabeth Warren blasts the 'egregious and embarrassing ethics breaches' among top Fed officials who she says have engaged in 'improper' stock trading for over a year
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sen. Elizabeth Warren slammed "improper stock trading" among Fed officials. On Monday, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell regarding what she called "egregious and embarrassing ethics breaches by top officials at the Federal Reserve System," referring to reports of "improper" stock trading by officials behind closed doors. The scandals predate the October findings — in September 2021, for example, Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan was found to have made multiple stock trades in 2020, along with Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren. He declined to comment on any pending investigations of Fed officials. Along with looking into potential ethics breaches within the Fed, Warren and other Democratic lawmakers have also raised concerns with the tactics the Fed is using to fight inflation.

☆ Powell says Fed officials recommitted to meeting new ethics standards
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Michael S. Derby | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

NEW YORK, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged on Wednesday the U.S. central bank's latest ethics stumbles and said it was working hard to make sure it meets its new, very stringent standards. "The public's trust is really the Fed's, and any central bank's, most important asset," Powell said at a news conference after the end of the central bank's latest policy meeting. Citing the new ethics standards imposed on policymakers earlier this year, Powell said "anytime one of us, one of the policymakers, violates or falls short of those rules, we do risk undermining that trust." Powell spoke in the wake of the latest developments in a controversy that's dogged the Fed for little over a year now. Reporting by Michael S. Derby; Editing by Leslie Adler and Paul SimaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ A year after trading scandal, Fed is again under ethics spotlight
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Michael S. Derby | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

At the same time, an in-house Inspector General (IG) investigation into the regional Fed trading activities still hasn't been released and it's unclear when it will be. Unresolved in that process are publicly available disclosures for top staff at regional Fed banks. Right now, only disclosures for the Fed chief, members of the Fed's Board of Governors, top central bank staff and regional bank presidents are available. Given the quasi-private nature of the 12 regional Fed banks, there's no formal mechanism to compel those institutions to release this information. The Fed faced some criticism last year for failing to identify the financial trading activity that ensnared the regional bank presidents.

☆ Bostic acknowledges accidental trading that violated Fed's ethics code
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Michael S. Derby | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Under the rules then in place, Fed officials were prohibited from owning stocks in banks overseen by the central bank. INDEPENDENT REVIEWBostic's revised financial statements are the latest development in a broader controversy facing the central bank. At the start of this year, Richard Clarida, who was then second-in-command of the central bank, resigned from his position early amid questions about his trading in 2020. It extended the new ethics restrictions to family members of central bank leaders and senior staff. The Inspector General cleared Powell and Clarida of wrongdoing, but said an investigation of regional Fed trading activity is ongoing.

☆ Bostic acknowledges accidental trades that violated Fed ethics code
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Michael S. Derby | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Bostic explained in a note that accompanied revised financial disclosure forms going back to the start of his tenure as Atlanta Fed president in 2017 that trades violating the ethics code were made by financial advisors. Under the rules then in place, Fed officials were prohibited from owning stocks in banks overseen by the central bank. INDEPENDENT REVIEWBostic's revised financial statements are the latest development in a broader controversy facing the central bank. It extended the new ethics restrictions to family members of central bank leaders and senior staff. The Inspector General cleared Powell and Clarida of wrongdoing, but said an investigation of regional Fed trading activity is ongoing.

☆ Federal Reserve probing Bostic's trading after blackout period transactions
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Jeff Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Raphael W. Bostic speaks at a European Financial Forum event in Dublin, Ireland February 13, 2019. The Federal Reserve is looking into trades that Raphael Bostic, the head of the central bank's Atlanta district, made during restricted periods. Fed Chair Jerome Powell "has asked the Office of Inspector General for the Federal Reserve Board to initiate an independent review of President Bostic's financial disclosures," a Fed spokesman said. Trading by Fed officials over the past several years has been a hot-button issue. The controversy also led to a revised policy that severely restricts the moves Fed officials can make.

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