Gallup: “Amid turbulence in the U.S. banking system, nearly half of Americans are anxious about the safety of the money they have in accounts at banks or other financial institutions. A total of 48% of U.S. adults say they are concerned about their money, including 19% who are ‘very’ and 29% who are ‘moderately’ worried.”
Average Mortgage Payments Have Spiked
Politico: “Mortgage rates have more than doubled since the Fed’s first rate hike in March 2022, and the average monthly mortgage payment for a ‘typical’ home has risen 50 percent over that period.”
Fed Hikes Interest Rates Again
“The Federal Reserve approved another quarter-percentage-point interest-rate rise and signaled it could be done lifting rates after that?” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The decision Wednesday marked the Fed’s tenth consecutive rate increase aimed at battling inflation and will bring its benchmark federal-funds rate to a range between 5% and 5.25%, a 16-year high.”
Biden Considers Two Key Nominations at the Fed
“President Biden is closing in on two nominations for the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors that would give the Fed its first Latina board member and its second ever Black vice chair,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Biden is close to nominating Adriana Kugler, an economist with Colombian heritage who is the U.S. executive director of the World Bank, to the Fed’s only remaining open governor position. In a corresponding move, he is likely to elevate Philip Jefferson, an economist who was confirmed overwhelmingly to the board when Mr. Biden nominated him to an open governor position, to be the board’s vice chair.”
Fed Chair Could Begin to Face Pushback
Bloomberg: “With inflation as high as 9% in the past year, Powell’s colleagues were all-in on the fight to curb price pressures, with another 25 basis-point hike expected Wednesday that might be the concluding increase.”
“Yet that consensus is already showing signs of splintering.”
Another Bank Fails
“JPMorgan Chase is buying most assets of First Republic Bank and assuming all of the lender’s deposits in a deal announced Monday that was arranged by the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,” CNN reports.
Wall Street Journal: “San Francisco-based First Republic, the second-largest bank to fail in U.S. history, lost $100 billion in deposits in a March run following the collapse of fellow Bay Area lender Silicon Valley Bank. It limped along for weeks after a group of America’s biggest banks came to its rescue with a $30 billion deposit.”
“Three of the four largest-ever U.S. bank failures have occurred in the past two months.”
Yellen Says Banks May Pull Back Lending
“Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said banks are likely to become more cautious and may tighten lending further in the wake of recent bank failures, possibly negating the need for further Federal Reserve interest rate hikes,” Reuters reports.
DeSantis Takes Aim at the Fed
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) “has begun to criticize Jerome Powell, the Fed chair, in speeches and news conferences,” Politico reports.
“He has alleged without evidence that the Biden administration is about to introduce a central bank digital currency — which neither the White House nor the politically independent Fed has decided to do — in a bid to surveil Americans and control their spending on gas. He has quoted the Fed’s Twitter posts disparagingly. His critiques echo a familiar playbook from the Trump administration.”
GOP Lawmaker Bought Bank Stock Before Takeover
In the midst of discussions with federal regulatory bodies last month, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) purchased stock in a bank that then took over the assets of the failing Signature Bank — sending the value of her new stocks soaring, Brooklyn Paper reports.
Bank Turmoil Squeezes Borrowers
New York Times: “The question now is whether banks and other lenders will pull back so much that the U.S. economy crashes into a severe recession. Until comprehensive data is released — a Federal Reserve survey of loan officers nationwide is due in early May — economists are parsing stories from small businesses, mortgage originators and construction firms to get a sense of the scale of the disruption.”
“Interviews with more than a dozen experts across a variety of industries suggested that the effects are beginning to take hold and could intensify.”
Democrats Push for Stronger Bank Capital Standards
“Senate Democrats are pressing federal banking regulators to toughen bank capital requirements following back-to-back congressional hearings where officials testified about the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank,” CNBC reports.
Pension Funds Caught in ESG Crossfire
NBC News: “A growing wave of public pension administrators, business groups and labor unions are sending a message to Republicans looking to curb so-called ‘woke’ investing: our money, our choice.”
White House Closely Watching Fed
“All eyes are trained on the Federal Reserve as it prepares to announce another potential interest rate hike Wednesday afternoon – exactly 10 days after the Biden administration stepped in with dramatic emergency actions to contain the fallout from two bank failures,” CNN reports.
“Biden White House officials will be closely watching the highly anticipated rate decision – and monitoring every word of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s public comments – for any telling clues on how the central bank is processing what has emerged one of the most urgent economic crises of Joe Biden’s presidency.”
“The moment creates a complex, if carefully observed, dynamic for the administration’s top economic officials who have spent much of the last two weeks engaged in regular discussions and consultations with Powell and Fed officials as they’ve navigated rapid and acute risks to the banking system.”
Bank Failure Looms Over Fed Interest Rate Decision
Insider: “On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee will announce whether or not it will raise interest rates once again as part of its ongoing fight against skyrocketing inflation. It comes after weeks of chaos in the banking industry — federal regulators shut down Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) last Friday and announced a bailout for the bank’s depositors 48 hours later.”
Signature Bank Threw Fundraiser for GOP Congressman
Bloomberg: “Ten days before Signature Bank collapsed, the House Republican overseeing an inquiry into the bank’s failure was inside its boardroom on New York’s Fifth Avenue. Patrick McHenry was there to raise thousands of dollars from bank executives.”
How Fed Bank Regulation Failed
Politico: “The banking turmoil is sparking not only external scrutiny but also internal soul-searching at the Fed, raising fundamental questions about the central bank’s effectiveness at supervising the industry, whether the sweeping post-crisis laws and regulations were even sufficient, and if their partial rollback in 2018 undermined the ability of regulators to stop the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and other lenders.”
Warren Calls for Probe of Bank Failures
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) called for an investigation into the recent failures of two U.S. regional banks, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Banks Brace for More Drama
“The banking sector is poised to head into a third week of existential questions and whipsaw volatility, despite official efforts to stabilize markets and reassure depositors,” Axios reports.
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