Fed chief to Congress: Don't end stimulus spending

[Neubarth]

Bernanke urges Congress not to slash spending or raise taxes during the economic recovery

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says the fragile economy still needs government stimulus spending to strengthen the recovery and help reduce unemployment.

Bernanke tells lawmakers that Congress should come up with a credible plan to reduce the government's record-high budget deficits in the long run. But he says they shouldn't move to slash spending or boost taxes, or undertake some combination of both right now.

He says: "I believe we should maintain our stimulus in the short term."
Fed chief to Congress: Don't end stimulus spending - Yahoo! Finance[/quote]

 

[KissMy]

Bernanke: Fed ready to ease if economy weakens

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke stressed Thursday that the central bank was "ready" to take further steps to stimulate the economy if growth turns out to be weaker than expected.

"We are ready and we will act if the economy does not continue to improve -- if we don't see the kind of improvements in the labor market that we are hoping for and expecting," Bernanke told the House Financial Services Committee in the second day of his summer report on monetary policy to Congress.

There was a debate after Bernanke's testimony on Wednesday about how high the bar was for further Fed easing. Bernanke's comments seemed to lower the bar a few notches. Bernanke repeated the options he said that the Fed is considering.

The first option was changing the Fed's forward guidance by providing more detail to the "extended period" language. The second option would be to reducing the interest rate on excess reserves. The final option would be adjusting the balance sheet by beginning to reinvest maturing GSE securities and MBS principal payments.

 

[Neubarth]

Bernanke does not see the coming collapse that I fear. His belief is that the Federal Government and the FED has done enough right now with no projected further increase in spending. (though there is an outside chance that further "easing" might be necessary.

I am not convinced that this "further easing" will be sufficient. Though I score well on IQ tests, I am no Bernanke. I guess we just have to trust him and hope and pray he is right.

 

[KissMy]

Dollar extend its loss after bigger than expected rise in jobless claims filling

The greenback extended its earlier drop Thursday, snapping a two-day advance against majors as witnessed on the U.S. Dollar index, which sagged to 82.71 from the today's opening levels that were set at 83.19.

the Dollar depreciated due to the large rise in unemployment benefits that surged in the week ending July 17 to 464,000, compared with the median estimates of analysts at 445,000 and the prior revised 427,000. Still, the outlook for the U.S. economy is uncertain, as mentioned by the Fed chairman; Ben Bernanke yesterday.

Wow gold has been on a 3 week losing streak due to rising confidence in the euro. Now the US monetary easing & unemployment are killing the dollar. Time to buy more gold as it just snapped its losing streak. Bernanke just gave gold a $12 pop! This economy is failing so government is getting ready to throw serious money at it for a long time.

 

[KissMy]

The Existing Home Sales drops and reverses previous reading

Transactions of all types of homes dropped 5.1% in comparison with a previous level standing at 7.6% growth. The Existing Home Sales report did, however, avoid the 9.9% fall expected by the markets.

In terms of quantitative measure Existing Home Sales annualized pace went down to 5.37M in June from 5.66M in May. Market forecast stood at 5.15M.

AISE SteelNews: World Crude Steel Production Dips 4.4% in June

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Rut Rho Rorge, now Obama is proudly claiming that ObamaCare is the biggest tax hit in human history.

 

[KissMy]

Breaking news: Bernanke slams U.S. economy! What to do...

A momentous event just occurred this afternoon: For the first time in many years, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve went before Congress, set aside his rose-colored glasses, dispensed with most of his sugar-coated platitudes and made some hard-hitting statements about the U.S. economy.

Bernanke on jobs: “This is the worst labor market since the Great Depression.”

Bernanke on housing: “The market remains weak, with the overhang of vacant or foreclosed houses weighing on home prices and construction.”

Bernanke on fears about the future: “Most … viewed uncertainty about the outlook for growth and unemployment as greater than normal, and the majority saw the risks to growth as weighted to the downside.”

Bernanke on tight credit for small businesses: “Bank loans outstanding have continued to contract. Small businesses, which depend importantly on bank credit, have been particularly hard hit.”

And never forget: All this is coming from a man whose job invariably makes him extremely reluctant to admit to negative trends in any sector at any time — if Bernanke is saying things are bad, you can bet your bottom dollar they’re actually far worse