bernanke posts
FeedPosted Jan 21st 2011 3:00PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Federal Reserve, Financial Crisis
One economic data point that sort of slipped under the radar recently concerned the U.S. Federal Reserve's $78.4 billion payment to the U.S. Treasury in 2010, up about 65% from $47.4 billion in 2009.
And the reason for the revenue surge? Experienced investors or others who have reviewed the Fed's report will realize that much of it stems from income from the Fed's purchase of mortgage securities and Treasury securities in connection with the quantitative easing, part 2 program, or QE2.
Under QE2, the Fed will purchase up to $600 billion in assets from November 2010 to June 2011 -- this coming after the Fed purchased $1.7 trillion in assets through March 2010.
Continue reading Tell-Tale Stat: Fed Paid $78.4 Billion to U.S. Treasury in 2010
Posted Jan 4th 2011 4:20PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: General Motors (GM), Whole Foods Market (WFMI), QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM)

The FOMC Minutes gave a Bernanke justification, or attempted re-justification, for QE2 today. Shares tried to have a positive day yet again for the second trading day of the year but the tone was very mixed despite a higher DJIA close at a two-year high. Gold saw major selling, as did most other commodities. This was a positive day for the DJIA, but the S&P and NASDAQ looked weak at the close.
Here were the closing bell levels:
Dow Jones 11,691.18 +20.43 (0.18%)
S&P 500 1,270.20 -1.69 (-0.13%)
Nasdaq 2,681.25 -10.27 (-0.38%)
Continue reading Closing Bell: Mixed Second Day of 2011 (ATHR, QCOM, GM, GLD, WFMI, XOMA)
Posted Dec 17th 2010 4:40PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Federal Reserve, Financial Crisis
The verdict on the U.S. Federal Reserve's quantitative easing program, including part 2, or QE2, will not be rendered for years. It may be longer, given the many areas of financial and economic policy the program has touched.
Anyone who says they definitively and incontrovertibly know QE2's long-term impact is not being genuine: many more data points have to occur to judge, for example, how QE2 affected banker lending psychology, let alone its impact on the U.S. economy.
That said, we can glean clues and insights by looking at current conditions, and one short-term data point reveals that since Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke disclosed the implementation of QE2 on August 27, the S&P 500 is up 17%, Bloomberg News reported Friday.
Continue reading A Bernanke Rally? S&P 500 Up 17% Since QE2 Announced
Posted Dec 7th 2010 4:00PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Federal Reserve, Financial Crisis

To say that the financial crisis era has been riddled with half-truths, distortions, and outright falsehoods regarding the unprecedented public policies designed to maintain stable, liquid credit markets and help stimulate the U.S. economy, would be an understatement. Moreover, investors need to disabuse themselves of them if they hope to make informed, balanced, and prudent investment decisions.
One such misnomer concerns the categorization of quantitative easing.
As U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke took pains to clarify Sunday, during his CBS
'60 Minutes' interview, the Fed is most certainly not 'printing money.'
A monetary policy of printing money would involve adding money to the financial system that chases the same amount of goods. That can and typically does lead to higher inflation.
Continue reading Fed's QE2 is a Bridge to Normal Credit Markets
Posted Nov 4th 2010 9:30AM by Douglas S. Roberts (RSS feed)
Filed under: Economic Data, Headline News, Federal Reserve, Recession
The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) issued its statement indicating again that interest rates will remain low for an extended period of time and that proceeds of Treasury securities will continue to be re-invested into additional Treasury securities.
There will also be additional quantitative easing. This will take the form of the purchase of an additional "$600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of the second quarter of 2011, a pace of about $75 billion per month," according to the Fed's statement. This was well within the $500 billion to $1 trillion range expected by many economists and strategists. Thus, the current program appears to be largely discounted by the market.
Continue reading The Fed Decision: This is Not the End of Quantitative Easing!
Posted Oct 27th 2010 10:30AM by Connie Madon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Forecasts, Federal Reserve
With only a few days left before the Federal Reserve meeting on November 2-3, speculation is rampant concerning whether the Fed will ease, and if so how much.
Here are a few scenarios, as reported in Reuters:
- The general consensus is that the Fed will do some kind of quantitative easing, dubbed QE2.
- Some think it will be $500 billion for five months with more if needed.
- Others think it could be $750 to $1 trillion.
- Will it be open ended with $100 billion per month?
- Perhaps it will be $500 to $750 billion with more if needed.
Continue reading Will the Fed Ease? If So, How Much?
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