Federal Reserve Bank News

“We are pleased with the response”

Massive new Gosbank USA formed, market soars Today the GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac merged with the Federal Reserve Bank, the US Treasury Department, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase to form ... via AlwaysOn

If they had separate weblogs with different color schemes I would confuse them less often. via Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal

“Those are significant costs to banks”

Commerce Bank is ending its long-standing practice of returning processed checks to customers. via Kansas.com

“We're trying to get transparency for the market from an institution that's not transparent in its own workings.”

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. is taking a stand against supporters of stricter regulations. via New York Times

Your sidebar on people who don't pay taxes exemplifies the incredible job of brainwashing our society has undergone. via The Source Weekly

The US Federal Reserve's desperate attempts to keep America's economy from sinking are remarkable for at least two reasons. via The Daily Star

“Economic times are tight on Main Street as well as on Wall Street, and we have a responsibility to all taxpayers to review the details of this deal.”

Two key senators are demanding details of the last-minute sale of failing investment bank Bear Stearns to JP Morgan, and how the Federal Reserve Bank's backing for the deal could affect taxpayers. via Ann Arbor News

“It's a crisis of fear that you won't be repaid for loans you make and fear that your counterparties in large transactions may go belly up.”

The lower interest rates that investors and lenders desperately crave risk reigniting the very speculative excess that triggered the crisis in the first place. via The Globe and Mail

The Federal Reserve Bank Cut both the discount rate and federal funds rate .75% today in an effort to stimulate this slowing economy. via Long Beach Real Estate

“What the Fed really did was lend money to banks and accept the counterfeit currency as collateral, treating it just as though it were real money”

The Federal Reserve Bank's decision last week to address the housing crisis by extending $200 billion of taxpayer-financed credit to Wall Street banks was met with a stunned reaction typical of surprising ... via Denver Post

The 15-nation euro was lower Thursday against the dollar, falling below $1.56 ahead of the Easter holiday. via Fort Worth Star-Telegram

The Federal Reserve's unprecedented bailout of Bear Stearns was crafted not at the White House or Treasury, but in secret by a New York central banker whose name is unknown to Washington power brokers and was a ... via CNSNews.com

“In the long run, Americans ought to have confidence in our economy”

The U.S. Federal Reserve decided Tuesday to cut a key interest rate by 75 basis points to 2.25 percent in order to prevent the economy from slipping into recession. via VietNamNet

“I think it's important to continue even if you don't see change right away”

Police arrested a handful of anti-war protesters outside the Federal Reserve Bank here at the start of daylong demonstrations and vigils to mark the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq Wednesday. via Amador Ledger-Dispatch

“A very severe correction is under way. House prices are plunging, stock prices are down measurably from their peak, there's a lot of financial pain everywhere”

Any present optimism may be premature. The sagging economy could keep slumping, despite one-day stock market rallies, aggressive intervention by the Federal Reserve and efforts by Congress and the White House ... via San Gabriel Valley Tribune

“I spent 35 years on Wall Street, have been a Fed watcher for a long time and I have never seen the potential for a more severe credit crisis than this one”

The Federal Reserve has taken its boldest action since the Great Depression, invoking rarely used powers in an effort to contain a panic threatening to undermine the economy. The central bank acted with speed the White House and Congress only could envy.

The Fed is largely free from many constraints that bog down other policymakers. Also, it is the only U.S. institution with the authority and ability to create money out of thin air.

For now, the steps orchestrated by Chairman Ben Bernanke, in the first critical test of his leadership since succeeding Alan Greenspan in early 2006, are earning praise from the Bush administration, Congress and presidential contenders Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain. Read more

“If Bernanke can do this, he'll look like a hero.”

Ben Bernanke's juggling act has gotten harder. The Federal Reserve chairman has been taking extraordinary steps to prevent credit, financial and housing problems from driving the country into a deep recession. via KVAL-TV Eugene

“These steps will provide financial institutions with greater assurance of access to funds.”

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Sunday announced emergency measures to stem a fast-spreading global financial crisis, tapping tools last used in the Great Depression to pour funds into cash-starved Wall Street ... via Earth Times

The rest of the world may not know who, or what, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are, but Americans do. via SYNTAGMA

“It is difficult to know where you are going to move.”

Skepticism about the latest U.S. Federal Reserve Bank plan to restore calm to jittery global credit markets dropped the dollar to new lows, with the euro pushing past $1.55 for the first time ever Wednesday. via StarTribune