• August 25, 2024

Fed’s Powell Nods to Upcoming Strategy Review as Officials Prepare to Cut Interest Rates

(Bloomberg) -- In Jackson Hole this weekend, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell outlined two priorities for the months ahead: keeping the US economy afloat while also taking a closer look at what went wrong over the past few years.Most Read from BloombergSydney Central Train Station Is Now an Architectural DestinationChicago Overcomes DNC Skeptics With Calm, Parties and SunNazi Bunker’s Leafy Makeover Turns Ugly Past Into Urban EyecatcherHow the Cortiços of São Paulo Helped Shelter South Americ

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• August 25, 2024

Oil’s Hot Summer Is Ending, Posing Risks for Majors and OPEC+

(Bloomberg) -- After a strong start to the summer, the outlook for oil prices is unravelling — leaving trading desks, supermajors and Middle East producers grappling with what comes next. Most Read from BloombergSydney Central Train Station Is Now an Architectural DestinationChicago Overcomes DNC Skeptics With Calm, Parties and SunNazi Bunker’s Leafy Makeover Turns Ugly Past Into Urban EyecatcherHow the Cortiços of São Paulo Helped Shelter South America’s Largest CityWith Housing Costs High, Dem

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• August 24, 2024

4 Takeaways From the Fed’s Annual Jackson Hole Conference

(Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming is winding down. Most Read from BloombergSydney Central Train Station Is Now an Architectural DestinationChicago's Migrant Surge Is Stirring Trouble for Democrats in DNC Host CityWith Housing Costs High, Democrats Hone YIMBY MessageHow the Cortiços of São Paulo Helped Shelter South America’s Largest CityWith Self-Driving Vans, Hamburg Tries to Make Microtransit WorkHere are some of the key

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• August 24, 2024

Fed’s Preferred Price Gauge to Reinforce Rate Cuts: Eco Week

(Bloomberg) -- US inflation figures in the coming week will reinforce that long-awaited interest-rate cuts are coming soon, while a reading on consumer spending is seen indicating that the central bank has been successful at keeping the expansion intact.Most Read from BloombergSydney Central Train Station Is Now an Architectural DestinationChicago's Migrant Surge Is Stirring Trouble for Democrats in DNC Host CityWith Housing Costs High, Democrats Hone YIMBY MessageHow the Cortiços of São Paulo H

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• August 24, 2024

Fed mortgage bond holdings play 'central' policy rule, paper says

Federal Reserve holdings of mortgage bonds play a “central” role in how monetary policy affects the economy's momentum, academics wrote in a paper to be presented at a central bank research conference Saturday. The paper takes stock of how the Fed uses increases and contractions in its holdings of Treasury and mortgage bonds to augment the changes it does with its interest rate target, actions collectively aimed to influence the economy's momentum. Known as quantitative easing, or QE, Fed purchases of Treasury and mortgage bonds starting in earnest in the spring of 2020 caused central bank holdings to more than double to a peak of around $9 trillion by the summer of 2022.

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• August 24, 2024

Fed's actions spoke louder than words in inflation fight, research shows

The Federal Reserve's credibility in the eyes of financial markets helped in its battle against inflation over the past two years, but it had to be earned afresh with interest rate hikes that backed up policymakers' verbal promises to restore price stability, according to new research presented at the Kansas City Fed's annual research conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. A strong perception in financial markets that a central bank is committed to inflation control can make monetary policy more effective, prompting markets to shift financial conditions faster and lowering inflation with a less serious hit to economic growth than would otherwise be the case.

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• August 24, 2024

Conflicting federal policies may cost residents more on flood insurance, and leave them at risk

Conflicting federal policies may force thousands of residents in flood-prone areas to pay more for flood insurance or be left unaware of danger posed by dams built upstream from their homes and worksites, according to an Associated Press review of federal records and data. To get the best discount on flood insurance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s points-based rating system requires communities to chart all the homes, businesses and critical facilities endangered by a potential dam failure and warn people of their risk. Federal “dam information sharing procedures costs communities points, homeowners money, and potentially citizens lives,” a California emergency services official warned in a January 2020 presentation to FEMA's National Dam Safety Review Board at an invitation-only meeting attended by dozens of federal and state officials.

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• August 24, 2024

Takeaways from AP's report on federal policies shielding information about potential dam failures

Thousands of people live downstream from dams yet may not always realize the risks. As the climate changes, heavy rains from intense storms have put communities at greater jeopardy from flooding and placed the nation’s aging dams at greater risk of failing. An Associated Press review found that conflicting federal policies may be inhibiting the ability of local officials to share details with residents, businesses and other property owners about the places that get could inundated with floodwaters if a dam were to fail.

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• August 23, 2024

IMF's Gourinchas says right for US to cut rates though inflation risk not gone

The imminent rate cuts planned by the U.S. Federal Reserve are "in line" with International Monetary Fund advice that has put a premium on ensuring inflation was controlled but now sees risks shifting toward the labor market, IMF economic counsellor Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said on Friday. "What was telegraphed by (Fed chair Jerome) Powell today is very much in line with what we've advocated," Gourinchas said on the sidelines of a Kansas City Fed economic conference. "Inflation has been improving and labor markets have shown signs of cooling ... If labor markets are not contributing to inflation pressures anymore ... then you might ease a little bit on cooling aggregate demand and bring (the policy rate of interest) back closer to neutral."

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• August 23, 2024

Major Central Banks Now Aligned as Powell Signals Fed Cuts Ahead

(Bloomberg) -- Officials from three of the world’s major central banks on Friday signaled they are firmly on course to lower — or continue lowering — interest rates in the coming months, marking the beginning of the end for an era of high borrowing costs as the global economy slips out of the grip of post-Covid inflation.Most Read from BloombergChicago's Migrant Surge Is Stirring Trouble for Democrats in DNC Host CitySydney Central Train Station Is Now an Architectural DestinationWith Housing Co

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