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☆ Fed recap: Breaking down the market's reaction to the Fed's pause and all of Powell’s key comments
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Darla Mercado | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

After a string of 10 consecutive rate hikes, the Federal Reserve is expected to hold off on increases – at least for now. Don't get your hopes up about the Fed signaling the end of its policy tightening. Indeed, key metrics like May's consumer price index show that the 12-month pace of inflation slowed to 4%, but it still has a way to go. Fed officials will also update their Summary of Economic Projections, detailing their outlooks for gross domestic product, the unemployment rate and inflation, per the personal consumption expenditures price index. Read more about the Fed's key decision here.

Persons: Darla Mercado, Jeff Cox Organizations: Federal Reserve, Federal, Fed

☆ Hopes for a Fed pause bolster risk rally
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Jamie Mcgeever | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

(Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Jamie McGeever, financial markets columnist. Traders are putting a 95% probability on the Fed standing pat on Wednesday, a consensus so strong the Fed will almost certainly respect. The focus for investors will be on the statement and Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference for signs on whether it will be a ‘hawkish’ or ‘dovish’ pause. The NYSE FANG+ index of mega tech stocks rose 0.9% for a fourth consecutive daily rise, bringing its year-to-date gains to 72%. One major headwind, particularly for Asian assets, could be the surge in U.S. Treasury yields, although that for now at least is being mitigated by the dollar’s slide to a three week low.

Persons: Jamie McGeever, Amit Dave, China’s, Jerome Powell’s, ’ Organizations: Reuters, REUTERS, Federal, Nasdaq, Traders, NYSE, Japan’s Nikkei, Treasury Locations: Ahmedabad, India, U.S, South Korea, Asia, Japan, New Zealand

☆ Jerome Powell’s Big Problem Just Got Even More Complicated
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Nick Timiraos | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/fed-jerome-powell-big-problem-more-complicated-ba27ece4

Persons: Dow Jones, jerome, powell

☆ AI is booming in the stock market. Is it too late to invest?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Last Thursday, the S&P 500 entered a bull market — up 20% from its recent lows. But the market’s strength has been mostly driven by a handful of mega-cap tech stocks, Alphabet (GOOGL), Meta (META), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), and Nvidia (NVDA). Before the Bell: AI is causing a big market boom right now, but that boom also seems to be concentrated in mega-cap tech stocks. Everything you wanted to know about a bull market but were afraid to askThe US entered a bull market last Thursday, finally. A bear in bull’s clothes: A 20% lift from recent lows is generally accepted as the definition of the start of a bull market.

Persons: ”, Matt Bartolini, Bell, Pets.com, I’m, They’ve, Adam Turnquist, James Demmert, what’s, Jerome Powell’s Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, New York CNN, Bank of America, Apple, Nvidia, Nasdaq, Dow Jones, SPDR, Street Global Advisors, Meta, US, LPL, Big Tech, Main, Research, Investors, Federal Reserve, P Global Market Intelligence, ▸, European Central Bank, ECB Locations: New York, Europe, SPDR Americas, Big, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong

☆ The Fed’s favorite inflation gauge just heated up — and that could mean another rate hike
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The closely watched core PCE index — where volatile components of food and energy are excluded — unexpectedly ticked up: The Fed’s go-to gauge was up 4.7% for the year. In March, the core PCE gauge grew by 4.6%. Economists had forecast that core PCE would hold steady at 4.6%, according to Refinitiv. Consumer spending jumped 0.8% in April from March, double what economists had expected. Excluding the effects of inflation, real consumer spending increased 0.5%, reflecting a boost seen from new car purchases, according to the report.

☆ Indian rupee poised to weaken after central bank pulls 2,000-rupee notes
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Nimesh Vora | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MUMBAI, May 22 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee is expected to open weaker against the U.S. dollar after the central bank said it will withdraw the highest value currency note from circulation. Non-deliverable forwards indicate rupee will open at around 82.80-82.84 to the dollar, compared to 82.66 in the previous session. On Friday, the Reserve Bank of India said it will withdraw its highest denomination 2,000-rupee note from circulation. "Rupee would come under pressure" alongside the fall in the cost of carry (the forward premiums), Goenka said. "Conducting sell/buy swaps (on USD/INR) would address cash dollar shortage and suck out rupee liquidity and could offer respite."

☆ Lawmakers are infuriated with Fed's inaction in its insider trading investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Elisabeth Buchwald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Congressional lawmakers grilled Federal Reserve Inspector General Mark Bialek Wednesday over possible insider trading among Fed officials in 2020, accusing the nation’s central bank of inaction. The heads of the Boston and Dallas Federal Reserve banks retired early in 2021 after trades they made before and during the pandemic came to light. Bialek told lawmakers there was no conflict of interest and that he was still able to conduct fair, independent investigations. This is not acceptable.”The Office of Inspector General declined to comment Wednesday night. A separate Fed investigation into SVB’s collapse, not involving Bialek, faulted Fed supervisors.

☆ Gallup poll: Americans have low confidence in Biden, Powell and Yellen on the economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Even with the unemployment rate tumbling to historic lows, nearly half (48%) of Americans say they have almost no confidence in Biden on the economy. Only 36% of Americans say they have confidence in Powell on the economy, a new low during Powell’s six-year tenure as Fed chief, while 28% say they have almost no confidence. The poll, taken April 3 to April 25, demonstrates how the anxiety caused by high inflation continues to overshadow the nation’s surprisingly strong job market. The economy added 253,000 jobs in April, dropping the unemployment rate to 3.4% — tied for the lowest since 1969. Gallup notes that confidence in leaders tends to rise and fall along with the fortunes of the economy.

PacWest plunges as banking woes spreadThe regional banking sector is teetering again, with PacWest’s stock plummeting more than 35 percent in premarket trading, despite the Fed chair Jay Powell’s assessment that the worst is over. The Los Angeles-based lender confirmed that it was talking to potential investors following reports that it was exploring a sale. Investors may be feeling some déjà vu after witnessing two big bank failures, and billions in market value wiped out, since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March. It’s not just PacWest in free-fall. News of a potential PacWest sale, first reported by Bloomberg — and confirmed by DealBook — came just hours after Mr. Powell declared that the banking system was “sound and resilient.”

☆ Premarket stocks: Why these bank stocks aren't getting crushed
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

First Horizon (FHN) and TD Bank (TD)also called off a $13 billion deal Thursday that would have formed America’s sixth-largest bank. The Stoxx Europe 600 Banks Index, which tracks big EU and UK banks, has shed 14% over the same period. Year-to-date, European banks are up more than 3%, while US lenders are down 26%. Broader market dynamics have also helped European bank stocks. The European Central Bank, which meets Thursday, has also been slower than the US Federal Reserve to hike interest rates.

☆ Read this to understand what Fed Chair Powell said today
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Elisabeth Buchwald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Recap: What’s been happening at the FedSince last March, the Fed hiked interest rates ten times (the tenth happened today). Because of that, lenders have to charge higher interest rates on credit cards, mortgages and loans. It’s essentially the same deal with interest rates. But to the Fed’s credit, that’s much better than last year when prices were 8.3% higher than a year prior. Part of that goes back to the Fed’s interest rate hikes.

☆ FOMC: Takeaways from the Federal Reserve's May meeting
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

This time around, the central bank’s meeting occurred two days after First Republic Bank failed. “Conditions in the sector have broadly improved since early March, and the US banking system is sound and resilient,” he said. “These tighter credit conditions are likely to weigh on economic activity, hiring and inflation,” Powell said. “The extent of these effects remains uncertain.”A key federal report on lending conditions, the Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, will come out on May 8, Powell said. “So we’ll be driven by incoming data, meeting by meeting, and we’ll approach that question at the June meeting.”A complicating element in that evaluation will be the amount of credit tightening and to what extent that acts as another interest rate hike, he said.

☆ Key Fed meeting and jobs data are ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

In the spotlight are the Federal Reserve’s May meeting and the April jobs report. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will likely face questions about credit conditions, in addition to the central bank’s inflation strategy. What’s at stake with the April jobs report: Economists expect the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ April jobs print to show slower employment growth last month and a rising unemployment rate. Wednesday: Federal Reserve interest rate decision, Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference and April ADP private payroll report. Friday: April jobs report and March consumer credit.

☆ People Are Not Exactly Interested in Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell’s New Film
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Krystie Lee Yandoli | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Rumors of a possible romance between the actors Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell swirled online this week after a series of seemingly flirtatious moments catapulted them into the spotlight. The public interest in Ms. Sweeney and Mr. Powell may be heightened because they’re both romantically linked to other people. Ms. Sweeney, best known for her roles in “Euphoria” and “White Lotus,” is engaged to Jonathan Davino, a restaurateur, but has rarely publicly discussed her relationship. “I don’t date people in the spotlight,” she told Cosmopolitan last year. Mr. Powell, who starred in “Top Gun: Maverick,” was reported to be dating the model Gigi Paris.

☆ A top tip for central banks: talk less, smile more
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Ben Winck | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

WASHINGTON, April 11 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Investors hang on central bankers’ every word, hoping to gain an edge for their next trade. But with consumer prices rising at the fastest pace in decades, central bankers can’t easily cut borrowing costs, either. Chatty central banks are a relatively new phenomenon. Investors are also more sensitive to central banks today than in years past. Still, being more careful about what’s said, and how it’s said, could help central banks better balance their priorities.

☆ Dominion’s historic defamation case against Fox News will go to trial, judge rules, in major decision dismantling key Fox defenses
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Marshall Cohen Oliver Darcy | Marshall Cohen | Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

New York CNN —Dominion Voting Systems’ historic defamation case against Fox News will proceed to a high-stakes jury trial in mid-April, a Delaware judge ruled Friday, in a major decision that dismantled several of the right-wing network’s key defenses. Both sides had asked Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis for a pretrial ruling in their favor, declaring them the winner. After thousands of pages of filings and exhibits, and a series of courtroom clashes, Davis decided the case should go to trial. Incriminating texts and emails have shown how Fox executives, hosts and producers didn’t believe the claims the network was peddling about Dominion. Despite what appeared on air, Fox News executives and hosts privately criticized the Trump camp for pushing claims of election fraud.

☆ Premarket stocks: How big of a problem is greedflation?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

“Executives at SVB and Signature [Bank] took wild risks and must be held accountable for exploding their banks,” Warren said. Republican Senators say the Fed’s focus on climate change led to banking turmoilRepublican Senators repeatedly insinuated on Tuesday that the recent US banking turmoil came as a result of the Federal Reserve’s focus on climate change. In his opening statement, Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the ranking member of the banking committee, called the Fed’s focus on climate change a waste of time. It’s what our supervisors do all the time.”In an interview with Montana Public Radio in 2014, Daines said that “the jury’s still out” on whether climate change is real. The public reasonably expects supervisors to require that banks understand, and appropriately manage, their material risks, including the financial risks of climate change.”

☆ Powell is leader of the free world – for now
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Lauren Silva Laughlin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

As former President Donald Trump will attest, Powell will do what he thinks it’s right. This month, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, a left-wing firebrand, went on TV and called Powell a “dangerous man,” saying she doesn’t think that he should be Fed Chair. CNN television host Jake Tapper asked her if she had told Biden that Powell should be fired. Then Trump called Powell “a golfer who can’t putt, has no touch.” Trump wanted economic growth. Powell resisted and later responded saying that the Fed chair, more than anyone else, needs to be free from political pressures.

☆ Windies skipper smashes his side to T20 win over South Africa
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Cricket - First Twenty20 - South Africa v West Indies - SuperSport Park Cricket Stadium, Centurion, South Africa - March 25, 2023 South Africa's Anrich Nortje and Aiden Markram after the match REUTERS/Siphiwe SibekoPRETORIA, March 25 (Reuters) - West Indies captain Rovman Powell smashed a quickfire 43 not out to propel his side to a three wicket victory over South Africa in a rain reduced Twenty20 international clash on Saturday. Powell’s knock came off only 18 balls as the West Indies reached their target of 132 with three balls to spare to go 1-0 up in the three-match series. The game was reduced to 11 overs each with South Africa scoring 131-8 and then the tourists replying with 132-7. After a two-hour delay, Powell put South Africa into bat in damp conditions and got immediate returns as key batsmen Quinton de Kock and Rilee Rossouw departed cheaply. West Indies went on the attack from the start of their innings, scoring 17 runs off their opening four balls before South Africa snagged Kyle Mayers with the next delivery.

☆ What the banking crisis means for your job
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The Fed’s latest economic projections, released on Wednesday, were largely in line with those from its last forecast, in December. “We are in a situation with inflation elevated and now a banking crisis on top of that,” Brusuelas told CNN. “I think that the Fed’s going to move toward an above 5% unemployment rate forecast, either in June or by September,” he said. “But the costs of failing are much higher.”A new wild cardThen there’s also the scenario that the Fed could get an assist from an unlikely bedfellow — the banking crisis. I do think the odds of a recession have increased in the wake of this banking sector crisis,” he said.

☆ Analysis-Investors cautious on U.S. stocks, even though Fed hikes may soon end
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Lewis Krauskopf | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Stocks fell on Wednesday, with the benchmark S&P 500 closing down 1.65% after swinging between gains and losses during Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference following the meeting. Futures markets are now pricing a Fed funds rate of around 4.25% by year-end, compared with the range of 4.75% to 5% that took effect on Wednesday. A drop in Treasury yields from recent highs has also given a tailwind to stocks, especially to big tech and growth names that are heavily weighted in the S&P 500. Corporate profits are another potential trouble spot, with S&P 500 earnings expected to post year-over-year declines in the first and second quarters after falling 3.2% in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to Refinitiv IBES. “I don’t think the market is going off to the races,” said James Ragan, director of wealth management research at D.A.

☆ Premarket stocks: Five big takeaways from the Fed's extraordinary meeting
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

New York CNN —The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point on Wednesday as it attempts to fight stubbornly high inflation while addressing risks to financial stability. Powell said that the central bank anticipates growth will slow and inflation will decline gradually this year and next year. Before the banking crisis, the Fed was fairly certain that more rate hikes would be coming in the future. But markets tend to be fickle after Fed meetings and traders’ opinions of the meeting could change in early trading. Norway and Switzerland hiked rates earlier Thursday, and the Bank of England is expected to do so too at 8a ET.

☆ How the banking crisis clipped the Fed's wings
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The message was clear: Buckle up, America — we are going to keep raising rates and get inflation down, come hell or high water. Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, followed by Signature Bank, stirring fears of a 2008-like financial calamity. “We no longer state that we anticipate that ongoing rate increases will be appropriate to quell inflation,” Powell said. How’d Wall Street take the news? But the mood on Wall Street turned sour in response to both Powell’s comments and remarks from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who was testifying before Congress at the same time.

☆ Interest rate decision: What to expect from the Fed meeting
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Christine Romans | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Among the choices, the Fed could continue its aggressive rate-hike campaign to cool inflation that is running at triple the central bank’s target of 2%. Warren — already a critic of the Fed’s inflation fight — leveled further blistering criticism of the Republican Fed chief. In addition to achieving price stability and financial stability, the Fed’s broader mandate includes supervision of individual financial institutions, Leer says, and “that’s where the failure lies. “The Fed needs to secure both price stability and financial stability, something that it has failed to so recently,” he told CNN. And this Fed chief inherited an unprecedented economy.

☆ Market nerves tie US rate-setters’ hands
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Ben Winck | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

On Wednesday the central bank raised interest rates a quarter point. The failure of Silicon Valley Bank nearly two weeks ago upended the U.S. financial system, and the Fed and other agencies have had to provide a steadying hand. But by Wednesday morning, just before the central bank’s decision, the futures market was mostly pricing in a 25 basis point hike. Futures contracts tracking the central bank’s benchmark rate have also been shaky. Wall Street reforms passed in 2010 crystallized the central bank's duty to foster a stable financial system.

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