Geithner and the AIG hearing
It’s been a rough day for “TFG75″ – the email name for Tim Geithner. At least, it’s been a rough day according to intrade, which is giving Treasury secretary a 40 per cent chance of losing his job by the end of June, after a day of being grilled by the House oversight committee.
For a wrap of today’s hearings, see: Read more
Bernanke’s scorecard
The term of Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, expires on Sunday and it is, as yet, unclear who will take the helm of the Fed if he is not confirmed by the Senate before the end of the month. So where does he stand on the Wednesday before his term ends?
Senate Votes so far: Yes – 49 (36 Democrats, 12 Republicans, 1 Independent); No – 21 (6 Democrats, 14 Republicans, 1 Independent) ; UNDECIDED/UNANNOUNCED: 30 (16 Democrats, 14 Republicans). Source Reuters poll Read more
At long last, Hoenig breaks consensus at the Fed
The post-Lehman Fed unanimity has finally been broken. The Fed again voted to keep interest rates unchanged in the 0 to 0.25 per cent range for an ‘extended period.” But now, dissent!
Thomas M. Hoenig, the Kansas City Fed president, used his new voting powers to vote against today’s action, saying, according to the minutes, that “economic and financial conditions had changed sufficiently that the expectation of exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period was no longer warranted.” Read more
Banks should hang on to their cash, rather than handing it out to employees and shareholders: then they might be in better shape to withstand troubled times. So Andrew Haldane, Bank of England MPC member, said this evening.
“If a positive profit surprise comes along, this windfall should be pocketed, front-loading the path to higher capital without harming lending and growth,” Mr Haldane said. Had there been more of this ‘prudential opportunism’, we might have been better sheltered from the crisis. He added that he saw no evidence banks were following this path. Read more
Davos 2010: I thought slavery had ended
I have a terrible problem when I listen to chief executives talking about what they do for the world:how they give people livelihoods; how their fine management has given thousands of people jobs; how families would be destitute were it not for them. My problem is that I thought slavery had ended – quite some time ago.
My contract with the Financial Times requires me to perform certain services, such as this blog – actually it doesn’t, but it requires me to do as the editor says. In return it offers me a salary and some other benefits. Though I haven’t read it for years, I am sure it does not require me to be grateful to the chief executive, or to acknowledge that I would be destitute without the fine management from which I benefit and owe my existence. Read more
The central bank has cut all its key rates by 50bp, following similar cuts last month, but warned of ‘limited room for manoeuvre’ if access to foreign capital markets is not resolved. The key seven-day collateral rate now stands at 9.5 per cent.
Inflation is falling, by 0.3 per cent in January alone, although the bank still expects to meet its inflation target of 2.5 per cent by the end of the year. The bank said there “should be scope for continued gradual monetary easing” if inflation continues to fall, and the króna remains stable or appreciates. Read more
Prices are falling in some parts of Germany and will rise more slowly than expected this year.
“A decline in January is normal but it isn’t usually this much. So we are not seeing the rise in inflation we had
expected,” said Postbank economist Heinrich Bayer. “We expected an inflation rate of 1.5 per cent this year – but it could now be a little less than that,” he added. Reuters economists’ forecasts averaged at 1.0 per cent, which might prove nearer the mark. Read more
Andrew Sentance hinted today that the UK central bank will tighten policy, saying that while current conditions persist, it “will be difficult for the MPC to keep inflation on target”.
“Through the recession, the MPC was right to relax monetary policy aggressively to provide support for a recovery that is now emerging. But as the recovery develops, the economic situation will change and the MPC must be ready to adapt its policies to the changing economic situation Read more
Unwanted dollars
Another milestone in the financial crisis: the ECB has just reported zero interest in its latest offer of unlimited seven-day dollar liquidity. If I am right, it is only the second time in its 11-year history that this has happened in an ECB liquidity providing operation. The first was in an offer of 84-day dollar liquidity last September.
The latest result was not unexpected. At the height of the economic crisis, the joint operations with the US Federal Reserve formed an important part of measures to keep financial markets working. But demand for emergency dollars by eurozone banks has tumbled in recently, as things have returned to normal. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Chris Giles has been the economics editor of the Financial Times since 2004. Based in London, he writes about international economic trends and the British economy. Before reporting economics for the Financial Times, he wrote editorials for the paper, reported for the BBC, worked as a regulator of the broadcasting industry and undertook research for the Institute for Fiscal Studies. RSS
Michael Steen, Frankfurt bureau chief, covers the ECB and the eurozone's economies. He joined the Financial Times in 2007 as Amsterdam correspondent and later worked as a front page news editor in London. Before joining the FT, he spent nine years as a correspondent at Reuters, mostly in foreign postings that included a previous stint in Frankfurt, as well as Moscow, Kiev and central Asia. He read German and Russian at Cambridge.RSS
Robin Harding is the FT's US economics editor, based in Washington. Prior to this, he was based in Tokyo, covering the Bank of Japan and Japan's technology sector, and in London as an economics leader writer. Robin studied economics at Cambridge and has a masters in economics from Hitotsubashi University, where he was a Monbusho scholar. Before joining the FT, Robin worked in asset management and banking. RSS
Ralph Atkins, capital markets editor, has been writing for the Financial Times for more than 20 years following an economics degree from Cambridge. From 2004 to 2012, Ralph was Frankfurt bureau chief, watching the European Central Bank and eurozone economies. He has also worked in Bonn, Berlin, Jerusalem and Brussels. RSS
Claire Jones is Money Supply economics team writer, based in London. Before joining the Financial Times, she was the editor of the Central Banking journal and CentralBanking.com. Claire studied philosophy and economics at the London School of Economics. RSS
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