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Japan's Nikkei up 2.5 pct as exporters, banks gain Reuters - Thursday, March 20TOKYO, March 19 - Japan's Nikkei share average rose 2.5 percent on Wednesday as investors snapped up exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp after a big interest rate cut in the U.S. helped ease concerns over demand in a key market for Japanese products. Rises in bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and other financial shares also drove the market higher as investors took some relief from earnings results by Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers , which came in above forecasts. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co jumped 3.7 percent to...

I'm watching Treasury Secretary Paulson and Fed Chief Bernanke do some fancy two stepping this past week and over the weekend to avoid what appears to be a complete meltdown of some of the most venerable firms on the street. It's obvious Bear Sterns didn't make the cut but that doesn't mean some of the other revered names are going to escape unscathed. The severity of the rate cut today should tell you the doo doo that those boys think we're in. Here's a clue: the more oblique the language is that they use to describe the situation the more...

Fed set for big rate cut amid market turmoil Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:55am EDT By Mark Felsenthal and Christian Plumb WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to slash interest rates by as much as a whole percentage point at its policy meeting on Tuesday as investors warily await investment bank results that could aggravate fears of a full-blown markets crisis. Traders expect the Fed to cut rates by a full percentage point in an effort to stop hemorrhaging in financial markets and boost the flagging economy. The Fed is expected to announce its decision around...

Calls for 1-point rate reduction grow louder Bear Stearns shocker triggers forecasts for whopper cut to 2% By Laura Mandaro, MarketWatch Last Update: 7:52 PM ET Mar 14, 2008 SAN FRANCISCO (Menafn - MarketWatch) -- Expectations that Federal Reserve next week will cut rates by a full percentage point, to 2%, gained traction among economists and traders Friday after a bailout of Bear Stearns Cos. revealed more fault lines in the U.S. financial system. Citigroup economists said they anticipate Fed policy-makers will lower the federal funds rate by a point to 2% next week from the current 3%, "and more...

Fed chief signals another rate cut By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer 2 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Congress that the nation is in for a period of sluggish business growth and sent a fresh signal Wednesday that interest rates will again be lowered to steady the teetering economy. ADVERTISEMENT "The economic situation has become distinctly less favorable" since the summer, the Fed chief told the House Financial Services Committee. Since Bernanke's last such comprehensive assessment last summer, the housing slump has worsened, credit problems have intensified and the job market has deteriorated. Bernanke said...

Bernanke’s reflation gamble may work too well By Martin WolfPublished: January 29 2008 19:49 | Last updated: January 29 2008 19:49 Whatever else it may be, the Federal Reserve is not boring. Indeed, by the standards of other central banks, it is hyperactive. The shock 0.75 percentage point reduction in the Federal Funds rate of interest last week, particularly if followed by the widely expected 0.5 percentage points on Wednesday, is a dramatic example. The Fed is the exemplar of an activist central bank. But US fiscal authorities are not far behind, as the $150bn (just over 1 per...

IMF head in shock fiscal warning By Chris Giles and Gillian Tett in Davos Published: January 27 2008 23:03 | Last updated: January 27 2008 23:03 The intensifying credit crunch is so severe that lower interest rates alone will not be enough “to get out of the turmoil we are in”, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, warned at the weekend. In a dramatic volte face for an international body that as recently as the autumn called for “continued fiscal consolidation” in the US, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the new IMF head, gave a green light for the...

Asian markets up, European markets fall By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer 11 minutes ago Most Asian markets rebounded Wednesday, reversing their recent gut-wrenching plunge as investors welcomed a hefty, surprise interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve to shore up the sagging American economy. But European markets were lower at midday, and early indicators suggested prices would fall on Wall Street when the market opens. Analysts said the market turmoil would linger for some time because the Fed's emergency action was seen by some as a sign American authorities view the U.S. credit crunch as a very serious...

(AFX UK Focus) 2008-01-22 10:29 GMT: London shares higher midmorning; rumours of emergency rate cuts by central banks Article layout: raw LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Leading shares were back in positive territory midmorning as the FTSE 100 index recovered from its opening slump as rumours circulated about possible co-ordinated emergency rate cuts by central banks. At 10.02 am, the FTSE 100 index was 45.2 points higher at 5,623.4, after opening with a 239.5 point slump to 5,338.7, while the FTSE 250 index was up 105.5 at 9,366.2. The UK blue chip index closed a massive 323.5 points, or 5.48 pct,...

January 23, 2008 Fed rate cut triggered by fear of bond insurance collapse Suzy Jagger, Christine Seib and Tom Bawden Fears that America’s bond insurance market could implode triggered the US Federal Reserve’s biggest interest rate cut for more than a quarter of a century, Wall Street economists claimed yesterday. Market analysts said that Wall Street had spent last week gradually realising the grave consequences of a major bond insurer defaulting on its commitments and attributed the surprise rate cut to averting such a crisis. As well as guaranteeing company debt issues, the bond insurers underwrite paper from local government...

Stocks Set to Rebound From Huge Drop Friday January 18, 8:13 am ET By Madlen Read, AP Business Writer Stocks Head for Higher Open After Stronger-Than-Expected Outlook From IBM, but Jitters Remain NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street appeared headed for a sharply higher open Friday as a strong outlook from IBM encouraged investors to buy back into stocks after their huge drop this week. The market remains extremely skittish, however. The Dow Jones industrial average, having suffered its worst three-day plunge in over five years, is now at levels not seen since last March. Some companies are weathering the...

Bernanke Comments Indicate Additional Rate Cuts By Neil Irwin Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, January 10, 2008; 2:39 PM Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke today gave the clearest indication yet that the central bank will move aggressively to cut interest rates to try to prevent a serious economic downturn. The Fed has cut the short-term interest rate it controls three times, for a total of one percentage point, since September, in an effort to keep a crisis in the housing and financial markets from spreading into the broader economy. In recent weeks, evidence has mounted that the economy is...

Fed's Plosser Open to Rate Cuts Tuesday January 8, 12:16 pm ET Federal Reserve Banker Charles Plosser Says He's Open to Future Rate Cuts GLADWYNE, Pa. (AP) -- Despite his persistent concerns about inflation, a hawkish U.S. central banker said Tuesday he is open to further interest-rate reductions. "Somebody asked me the other day, was I open to rate cuts, further rate cuts in the future," Charles Plosser, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, told reporters after a speech to a business group. "Absolutely. I'm open to those." He added the decision will depend upon "how the economy...

Dow drops 300 after Fed cuts rates Tue Dec 11, 3:53 PM ET The Dow Jones industrial average has plunged more than 300 points as investors disappointed by the Federal Reserve's rate cut sold off stocks. In late afternoon trading, the Dow is down 303.61 to 13,423.42. The Fed lowered its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points, disappointing some investors who hoped the central bank would take more aggressive measures. The Dow Jones industrial average, which had been up about 40 points before the decision, fell 300 points. Investors had been expecting policymakers would cut rates for a third...

See for example this thread first. By the time you looked up and said, "What?!!" Bernanke had announced a rate cut Of a half a percent! Should we all thank the gent? ...or get mad he saved some banker's butt?

Fed rate cut may not help Wall Street Expected interest trim might not solve lending, investment problems September 15, 2007 Washington — The Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut its benchmark interest rate Tuesday for the first change since June 2006. Given what’s roiling Wall Street, however, it might prove akin to offering a Band-Aid to stop a stomachache. In recent speeches, Fed governors have all but confirmed that a cut is coming from the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed’s policy-making group. Most Wall Street economists expect a cut of a quarter-percentage point, bringing its benchmark fed funds...