Federal Reserve System
Fischer defends Fed independence
Attempts to make the FOMC adopt a policy rule and 'audit’ its decisions would restrict the Fed’s independence without generating much benefit, Stanley Fischer argues
Yellen would ‘welcome’ vice-chair of supervision
Fed chair says an appointment to the long-vacant post would be welcome, but stresses the ‘outstanding job’ board member Tarullo has done leading work in the area
Research assesses South Africa’s vulnerability to Fed hike
Countries with large ratios of external financing needs to foreign exchange could be more vulnerable to Fed rate hikes, working paper finds
Swaziland currency drops under Fed decision pressures
Delayed Fed rate rise put pressure on Swaziland lilangeni, central bank says, and more moves are likely
Fed rate rise given the ‘amber light’
Federal Reserve holds rates but hints there could be action at the December meeting; analysts still seeing mixed signals
Bernanke offers insight into Fed’s political balancing act
Former Fed chair tells of navigating both political and economic pitfalls in crisis response, and says the US central bank’s independence is still under threat
Vocalink to deliver ‘new generation’ real-time payments in US
CEO David Yates tells Central Banking there will be unique challenges to delivering real-time payments in the US, as Vocalink is chosen to provide software behind faster payments project
Kohn warns of 'serious shortcomings' in US macro-prudential framework
Former Fed vice-chair says inability to impose LTV and LTI ratios on mortgages may imperil US rate weapon at a time when central bank is failing to meet targets
Fed support high on wish list for buy-side repo clearing
Risk USA panellists want liquidity support for planned new services
Brainard mulls how to reduce ‘undue’ regulatory burden
Fed’s Lael Brainard discusses potential areas for reducing regulatory burden faced by banks; warns process may take longer where interagency agreement needed
Bullard offers alternatives to cutting reserve bank dividend
St Louis Fed president takes issue with congressional proposal to cut dividend paid to largest banks; suggests tying amount paid to benchmark rate instead or eliminating it completely
Further rate hikes likely as Chile raises 25bp
Central bank lifts rate to 3.25% in first move in four years; analysts suggest the move is an effort to rein in expectations
John Taylor and William Dudley clash on Fed strategy
Stanford professor John Taylor questions Fed’s communications; New York Fed president William Dudley sets out case against following more rules-based policy
Heterogeneous beliefs may weaken effect of forward guidance, paper argues
Fixed-date and state-contingent guidance by the Federal Reserve led some market expectations to converge, but heterogeneous beliefs about inflation and consumption persisted
Fed’s Brainard counsels patience on interest rates
Governor Lael Brainard warns there could be ‘some distance to go’ before reaching full employment in the US, and questions the impact of further labour market improvements on inflation
Fed encouraged to act as FOMC members eye new data
Stanley Fischer reveals encouragement from emerging market officials to ‘just do it’ and raise rates; Dennis Lockhart singles out importance of consumer data in coming weeks
FOMC minutes spell out inflation concerns
Several members were concerned disinflationary pressure from low oil prices and a strong dollar could persist longer than anticipated and ‘delay or diminish’ the expected rise in inflation
Swap line availability not assured, warns Bill Allen
It is ‘not certain’ the Federal Reserve will be able to provide liquidity in the same manner in the future, Allen tells Central Banking
Failed normalisation could hold back growth, IMF warns
Flagship report presents different scenarios based on whether the normalisation of monetary and financial conditions progresses smoothly or not; process could stall if risks crystallise
Chicago Fed official slams CFTC, SEC over HFT regulation
'You cannot have 80% of the market being just HFT,' says Rajeev Ranjan, a member of the reserve bank's economic research department
IMF working paper explores spillovers between United States and eurozone
Spillovers from the eurozone to the US have been ‘considerable’ since 2014, reflecting policy easing in Europe, IMF paper notes
Weak jobs report sends dollar tumbling
Report shows nonfarm payrolls increased by just 142,000 in September, while July and August totals have been revised down; dollar drops by almost 1% against euro
Fed policy has ‘little impact’ on labour market, paper says
Paper published by Minneapolis Fed argues there is little the Fed can do to restore the level of employment relative to the population that prevailed before the crisis
Chicago Fed president wants more evidence of inflation
Evans backs an ‘extra-patient approach’ to monetary policy as he airs concerns over inflation outlook and ‘asymmetric’ risks; assesses economy more cautiously than FOMC colleagues