The U.S. economic recovery is still too fragile to withstand tighter monetary policy, particularly with Europe s debt crisis and the BP oil spill increasing uncertainty, a top Federal Reserve official said on Wednesday.
Monthly archives for June, 2010
Gulf oil spill damaging confidence: Fed s Lockhart (at MarketWatch)
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is not having a measurable effect on the national economy, but is likely retarding the recovery by holding back consumer and business confidence, said Dennis Lockhart, the president of the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank on Wednesday.
In Pursuit of Stimulus: Stiglitz (at CNBC)
Governments should focus on stimulus rather than austerity in order to encourage business spending, Nobel Laureate and noted economist Joseph Stiglitz told CNBC Wednesday.
Farrell: The Market is Screaming, Are You Listening? (at CNBC)
With the two year Treasury bond trading below .6% at one point on Tuesday and the 10 year Treasury below 3%…market is screaming the world economy is slowing, slowing, slowing.
[$$] AIG Ex-Derivatives Boss: Losses Would Have Been Smaller Without Bailout (at The Wall Street Journal)
AIG Ex-Derivatives Boss: Bailout Increased Losses AIG s former head of derivatives-trading will tell the financial crisis commission that AIG would have realized few losses from credit derivatives if the trades hadn t been unwound in the government s bailout of the company.
The Fed: Chicago Fed s Evans wary of more asset purchases (at MarketWatch)
Charles Evans, president of the Chicago Fed, is wary of calls for further central-bank purchases of assets aimed at stimulating the economy. He also dismisses fears that the U.S. recovery is faltering.
In A.I.G. Bailout, Amnesty for Big Banks (at New York Times)
Were regulators overly punitive toward American International Group and too forgiving of banks during the bailout? Recently disclosed documents indicate that may have been the case.
UPDATE – French Q1 debt jumps, hit by stimulus spending (at Reuters)
* Debt rises to 80.3 percent of GDP * Stimulus measures continues to drag on finances * Debt set to hit 83.2 pct of GDP in 2010
IMF tells US to tighten fiscal policy (at Financial Times)
The US will have much less room to grow than it believes and should therefore tighten fiscal policy more rapidly, according to estimates by the International Monetary Fund.
Treasury lacks staff to monitor bailout funds: report (Reuters)
The U.S. Treasury Department lacks the manpower to properly monitor how big companies that got billions of taxpayers money use it, a critical report on Tuesday from an oversight agency said.