For a world first, the announcement came with remarkably little fanfare. But last month, the Swedish Riksbank entered uncharted territory when it became the world’s first central bank to introduce negative interest rates on bank deposits.
Tag Archives: federal-reserve
Immigration: Let’s Get Over It Already
Author Kurt Andersen’s new book, Reset: How This Crisis Can Restore Our Values and Renew America, examines the economic, political and cultural opportunities to be found in the wake of the financial crises. In this excerpt, the fourth of five pieces to appear on TIME.com, he argues that open borders and innovative immigration policy are critical to America’s rebound. No other nation on earth assimilates immigrants as successfully as the United States.
The Fed Holds Interest Rates Steady: Mixed Signals on the Economy
It used to be that markets waited anxiously to see what the Federal Reserve would decide about short-term interest rates.
White supremacist accused in Holocaust Museum shooting
The suspect in Wednesday’s fatal shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is James von Brunn, an 88-year-old white supremacist from Maryland, two law enforcement officials told CNN
A Drag on the Economic Rebound: Consumer Spending
Don’t get too excited about signs of life in the economy. Some days it seems there’s good news everywhere: home sales ticking up, slower job losses, the Dow turning positive for the year. But all that misses a looming reality
Commercial Real Estate the Economy’s Anvil
Commercial real estate may soon bulldoze the green shoots. A coming wave of defaults on loans to developers of condominiums, office buildings and malls could do significant damage to the already deflating economy.
Stress Tests: Here to Stay?
Now that the bank stress tests are completed, is it time to plan another round? The government’s bank exams, the results of which were released last Thursday, seem to have calmed the market and paved the way for the nation’s largest financial firms to raise tens of billion of dollars. As a result, a number of academics and policy watchers are warming to the idea of making the stress tests permanent.
Stress Tested: Has Geithner’s Bank Confidence Game Worked?
From his earliest days as Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner’s biggest challenge has been restoring confidence in America’s fragile banks without taking the politically costly step of asking Congress for more money. To judge by the results of the government-run stress tests released Thursday afternoon, Geithner has somehow pulled it off — at least for now. Not that three months of supervisory scrutiny of the country’s top 19 banks hasn’t produced some grim news.
The Bank Stress Tests: A $75 Billion Mid-Term Exam
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, speaking via satellite to a bank conference sponsored by the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank, said on Thursday morning that the stress tests ‘will allow, I hope, for greater confidence in the banks.’ But even though the stress tests are over, the banks and their investors are not out of the woods.
Why the Economic Recovery May Be Disappointing
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress on Tuesday morning that the economy is likely to pull out of the recession and start growing later this year. This in itself isn’t news — Bernanke has been saying the same thing for months. What’s news is that people are starting to believe him