Author: Christopher Condon
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CBO warns 2025 debt interest costs to exceed World War II levels
The cost to service the U.S. government’s burgeoning debt load will hit a record high next year and then keep on climbing, the Congressional Budget Office warned on Wednesday. Net interest payments will climb to 3.1% of gross domestic product next year, the highest level in records going back to 1940, and then go on…
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5 questions about the Fed’s $4.5 trillion balance sheet
The Federal Reserve is getting ready to “normalize” the size of its $4.5 trillion balance sheet. A lot is at stake. Investors and traders are anxious for information about how the central bank intends to pull back. “There are so many different parameters by which they could set this process,” said Tom Simons, a senior…
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Fed’s Lacker resigns over role in 2012 leak of confidential info
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker is resigning immediately, six months sooner than previously announced, after disclosing his role in the leak of information related to the central bank’s deliberations in 2012. “I regret that in this instance I crossed the line to confirming information that should have remained confidential,” Lacker said in…
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Fed raises benchmark rate as inflation approaches 2 percent target
The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark lending rate a quarter point and continued to project two more increases this year, signaling more vigilance as inflation approaches its target. “In view of realized and expected labor market conditions and inflation, the committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate,” the Federal Open…
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Yellen unlikely to rule out March hike in Capitol Hill testimony
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen probably won’t drop a heavy hint on the timing of the next interest-rate increase when she speaks to Congress this week, but expect her to defend post-crisis banking rules the Trump administration has sworn to undo. Yellen’s semi-annual testimony to lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday will be her…
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Fed nods to improving sentiment while leaving rates unchanged
Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged while acknowledging rising confidence among consumers and businesses following Donald Trump’s election victory. “Measures of consumer and business sentiment have improved of late,” the Federal Open Market Committee said in its statement Wednesday following a two-day meeting in Washington. Policymakers reiterated their expectations for moderate economic growth, “some…
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Summers warns of financial-crisis risk from Trump economic plans
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers attacked the policy proposals of Donald Trump on several fronts Sunday, saying the president-elect’s plans for deregulation were setting the stage for the next financial crisis. “The deregulation in some areas like finance is hugely dangerous,” Summers said in an interview on Fox News Channel. “Who wants to go…
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Yellen sees economic gains boosting workers in job market
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said economic gains are finally raising living standards for most Americans as a healthy labor market contributes to higher wages. “After years of a slow economic recovery, you are entering the strongest job market in nearly a decade,” Yellen told a class of graduating students at the University of Baltimore…
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December rate hike on track as Fed avoids politics
Federal Reserve policymakers are a bunch of “incredibly nerdy” technocrats who never discuss politics in their meetings, according to a senior official, while his colleague said the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president shouldn’t delay an interest-rate increase next month. “I am not seeing enough volatility here to change my basic projection for the…
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Fed sets up possible December move while leaving rates on hold
Federal Reserve policymakers left interest rates unchanged Wednesday while saying the argument for higher borrowing costs strengthened further amid accelerating inflation, reinforcing expectations for a hike next month. “The committee judges that the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has continued to strengthen but decided, for the time being, to wait for…