Tag: jerome powell

Recession Signals Abound as the Fed Gets Aggressive

Commentary  At the recent Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made it clear that the central bank remains focused on combating inflation despite recession signals rising in tandem. To wit: “Restoring price stability will take some time and requires using our tools forcefully to bring demand and supply into better balance. Reducing inflation…


Fed Chair Powell Buries ‘Soft Landing’ Hopes

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell had a message for the U.S. economy and the financial markets: prepare for “some pain” ahead and higher inflation-busting interest rates are here to stay.  Powell recently delivered his much-anticipated Jackson Hole Economic Symposium speech, and his hawkish remarks disappointed investors.  When the Fed started its tightening cycle in March,…


Earnings Decline–Likely More to Go Before We Are Done

Commentary  Last year I wrote an article discussing that 2022 earnings estimates were too optimistic, given the impending reversal of the economic “sugar rush” of massive liquidity injections. With the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates, the phenomenon of high inflation, and slower economic growth in the mix, a continuation of said earnings decline remains highly probable….


US Recession Is Going to Be a Real ‘Whopper’: Economist

Economist Steve Hanke has warned Americans to prepare for a “whopper” of a recession next year, while taking aim at the Federal Reserve’s narrative over the current sky-high inflation levels. Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University, made the comment in an interview on CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Aug. 29. Hanke said that the…


Is the Fed Panicking or Bluffing?

Commentary The big takeaway from the Fed meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming—in person this time after two years of staying home and staying safe—was that the Fed is serious about stopping inflation. The message to the media was firm and unified. There will be no stopping this Fed until the target of 2 percent is…


Dow Drops 1,000 After Fed’s Powell Says Rates Will Stay High

NEW YORK—The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank more than 1,000 points Friday after the head of the Federal Reserve dashed Wall Street’s hopes that it may soon ease up on high interest rates in its effort to tame inflation. The S&P 500 lost 3.4 percent, its biggest drop since mid-June, after Jerome Powell said the…


Fed’s Powell Sees Inflation Fight Lasting ‘Some Time,’ Warns of Economic Pain

The Federal Reserve will its tools “forcefully” to attack the 40-year high level of inflation by continuing to tighten monetary policy “for some time,” Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said at a central banking conference, on Aug. 26, at which he struck a hawkish tone that sent stocks tumbling. Powell, in his long-awaited remarks at the annual event…


Wall Street Rallies as Countdown to Fed Speech Nears End

NEW YORK—Stocks rallied Thursday as the countdown clicked closer to zero for a highly anticipated speech about interest rates. The S&P 500 gained 58.35, or 1.4 percent, to 4,199.12 for its best day in nearly two weeks. Much of the lift came late in the day as traders made moves ahead of Friday morning’s speech…


Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers Fears the Fed Is Confusing Investors With Loose Monetary Policy

The Federal Reserve needs to alert investors that in order to contain inflation, the central bank will have to impose a restrictive monetary policy that will drive up the U.S. unemployment rate, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said in a recent interview for Bloomberg Television. Summers, who was also a director of the White House National Economic…


Take GDP with a ‘Grain of Salt’, Says Fed Chair Jerome Powell

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell thinks it would be prudent to take the preliminary reading of the second-quarter gross domestic product numbers with a “grain of salt.”   In a post-Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) press conference Wednesday, Powell told reporters that there should not be too much concentration on the initial GDP print since…