Free Republic

“We concluded that this was the right thing for the economy and the people we serve,” the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, said, referring to the central bank’s decision to cut interest rates by half a point.

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve on Wednesday enacted its first interest rate cut since the early days of the Covid pandemic, slicing half a percentage point off benchmark rates in an effort to head off a slowdown in the labor market. With both the jobs picture and inflation softening, the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee chose to lower its key overnight borrowing rate by a half percentage point, or 50 basis points, affirming market expectations that had recently shifted from an outlook for a cut half that size. Outside of the emergency rate cuts during Covid, the last time...

American consumers and homebuyers, business people and political leaders have been waiting for months for what the Federal Reserve is poised to announce this week: that it's cutting its key interest rate from a two-decade peak.It's likely to be just the first in a series of rate cuts that should make borrowing more affordable now that the Fed has deemed high inflation to be all but defeated.Continued at link...

For a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the average rate you’ll pay is 6.27% today, a decrease of -0.17% since one week ago. The average rate for a 15-year fixed mortgage is 5.53%, which is a decrease of -0.25% from the same time last week. For a closer look at mortgage predictions this week, see here. With inflation at its lowest level since spring 2021 and a weakening labor market, the Federal Reserve is set to make its first interest rate cut in September, which should help mortgage rates fall in the coming months. Generally speaking, bad news for the economy means...

Nine of the 12 Federal Reserve districts reported a decline in economic activity in August, up five districts from the July Beige Book report. Our system has warned that we are entering a period of stagflation, where inflation remains high but GDP declines. Now, the Fed is reporting that two-thirds of the US economy is experiencing “flat or declining activity.” The US economy advanced 3% during the last quarter, leading many to believe that the economy is recovering since Q2 posted a measly 1.4% advancement. Consumer spending, amounting to 70% of GDP, rose 2.9% last quarter as well, but people...

On Friday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jared Bernstein responded to the August jobs report by stating that “the market has an overreaction function. Today’s a pretty simple story, if you keep it down to its fundamentals, employment up, wages up, unemployment down, inflation down. Put that all together and it’s a recipe for continued growth, continued real gains, and I think an expansion that will persist.”

The idea of relocating federal departments has been bandied about for some time. For example it is thought The Department of Agriculture would be better suited in Omaha, Nebraska, to be closer to agricultural interests. The Department of the Interior would be better suited out west in a place like Elko, Nevada to be closer to federal lands. With Trump considering bringing Elon Musk on board as an efficiency and cost-cutting expert many new ideas are appearing as to where Federal Departments should be relocated. Some are: Loring, Maine Montegut, Louisiana International Falls, Minnesota Ruthville, North Dakota (adjacent to Minot...

Following its stress test earlier this year, the Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday announced final individual capital requirements for all large banks, effective on October 1. Large bank capital requirements are informed by the Board's stress test results, which provide a risk-sensitive and forward-looking assessment of capital needs. The table shows each bank's common equity tier 1 capital requirement, which is made up of several components, including: The minimum capital requirement, which is the same for each bank and is 4.5 percent; The stress capital buffer requirement, which is based in part on the stress test results and is at...

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, in his prepared speech at the recent Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, said: “It seems unlikely that the labor market will be a source of elevated inflationary pressures anytime soon. We do not seek or welcome further cooling in labor market conditions.”Have the central bank’s tightening efforts since March 2022 finally doused the red-hot, post-COVID-19 pandemic U.S. labor market?So far this year, the number of new jobs has totaled about 1.9 million, compared with 1.4 million in 2023. The unemployment rate is at 4.3 percent, compared with 3.5 percent.Over the past year, market watchers have observed...

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled Friday that interest rate cuts are coming soon. "The time has come for policy to adjust," Powell said in his speech during the Kansas City Fed's symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. "The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks." "Inflation is now much closer to our objective, with prices having risen 2.5% over the past 12 months," he said. "After a pause earlier this year, progress toward our 2% objective has resumed. My confidence has...

The number of people looking for a job in the Federal Reserve’s latest labor market survey rose to its highest level since 2014, the U.S. central bank reported Monday, as fears simmer about a broader slowdown in the economy. The proportion of respondents seeking employment over the past four weeks jumped to 28.4 percent from 19.4 percent in July of last year, according to the Fed’s Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE) labor market survey. The increase in job seekers was most noticeable among people who are older than 45, who don’t have a college degree, and whose income is below...

Bank officials signal readiness to start interest rate-cutting cycle to ease pressure on households and businesses After a rollercoaster month in financial markets amid fears of a potential US recession, a majority of economists polled by Reuters said they did not expect a downturn to materialise, and that the Fed would cut borrowing costs by 0.25 percentage points at each of its remaining meetings in 2024. It comes after the heads of three regional Federal Reserve banks signalled growing readiness for the start of a rate-cutting cycle to help ease pressure on households and businesses from high borrowing costs. The...

The Fed has grossly distorted the housing market and no fix is in sight. A couple of images will explain...Chart data from Case-Shiller, mortgage calculation based on Fannie Mae 30-year mortgage rates, chart by MishHome Price Calculation NotesCase-Shiller measures repeat sales of the same home over time.Case-Shiller is a much better, but less timely measure than median or average home price. However, the measure lags. Recent data is through May representing sales in February, March, and April.The price above reflects the increasing value of the Case-Shiller index over time.Mortgage Payment and Mortgage RateThe above chart represents the mortgage payment of...

If these guys were a rose bush with so many thorns and so few flowers, you’d burn it! The Fed can easily be made to work but nobody apparently wants it to, or we’d change it. This rose bush puts out flowers that only stink and wither, but it has thorns the size of your fingers that cling to your pockets and tear at your flesh. We have three articles that were prominent in my news searches today that lay out just how miserably (for all of us) the Fed is failing at its actual mission. The first one by...

Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee on Monday vowed that the central bank would react to signs of weakness in the economy and indicated that interest rates could be too restrictive now. “The Fed’s job is very straightforward, maximize employment, stabilize prices and maintain financial stability. That’s what we’re going to do,” the central bank official said during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” program. “We’re forward-looking about it. So if the conditions collectively start coming in like that on the through line, there’s deterioration on any of those parts, we’re going to fix it.”

According to @CryptoMichNL, the Federal Reserve (FED) is holding an emergency meeting today following a historic correction in Japan's stock markets. This significant market event could potentially impact global financial markets, including the cryptocurrency sector. (Source)

Have you ever wondered whether the group known as 'Patriot Front', which declares itself a white supremacy organization, is a genuine extremist group or merely a psyop funded and organized by federal authorities? I have questioned this as well. The group emerged roughly six years ago following the participation of its founder, Thomas Ryan Rousseau, at the infamous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. Intriguingly, Rousseau tends to recruit exceptionally fit and disciplined individuals, the likes of whom would be ideal candidates for the FBI, HSI, or the USMC. Many, including myself, are skeptical that a 25-year-old without formal education...

Talk like a Federal Reserve Governor! A number of pominent cheerleaders (economists) have come out before CNN debate to claim that another Trump Presidency will generate even worse inflation than it has under Biden. Really? Before Covid struck in 2020, the last CPI YoY reading for Trump was only 2.34%. It rose to 9% YoY under Biden in June 2022. How did this happen? Federal binge spending and reckless Federal Reserve monetary policy. The Nobel Prize -winning “economists” seem to have forgotten the unprecented money printing and interest rate suppression when Covid srtuck in 2020. Of course, inflation soared after...

According to Federal Reserve data, for the first time in its history, the Fed has been losing money on a consistent monthly basis since September 28, 2022. As of the last reporting date of June 19, 2024, those losses add up to a cumulative $176 billion. As the chart above using Fed data shows, the losses thus far in 2024 have ranged from a monthly high of $11.076 billion in February to a low of $5.674 billion in May.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept its key interest rate unchanged and signaled that just one cut is expected before the end of the year. With markets hoping for a more accommodative central bank, Federal Open Market Committee policymakers following their two-day meeting took two rate reductions off the table from the three indicated in March. The committee also signaled that it believes the long-run interest rate is higher than previously indicated. New forecasts released after this week’s two-day meeting indicated only slight optimism that inflation remains on track to head back to the Fed’s 2% goal, allowing for some...