2 min readIntroduction With just two days remaining until the Federal Reserve Board’s key policy meeting, it is almost impossible to avoid the term “quantitative easing round two (QE2)” in the financial press. Ever since the keynote speech by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke last August , rumors have been rampant that the Fed will implement a daring…
2 min readFederal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recently laid out his plans to lawmakers on how the Fed will eliminate programs, when needed, which pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into the financial system. In an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal, he wrote that the strategy is ready to be put to use, but noted…
3 min readExecutive Summary From administering aggressive interest rate cuts to providing longer-term liquidity to financial firms; from accepting non-traditional asset collateral to assisting the Bear Stearns takeover by JPMorgan Chase; this Federal Reserve is unlike any we have seen in recent history. By throwing out the rulebook of central banking, some pundits say the Fed sets…
2 min readExecutive Summary With 400 basis points of Fed Funds rate increases over the past 24 months, investors are rightfully anxious about the impact of the Fed tightening policy. Our study finds that historically falling core CPI data tends to encourage the Fed to stop raising rates. Other key indicators, however, do not seem to have…