interest rates

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Bernanke Taking Big Gamble on Policy

Lower dollar stimulates economy but risks trade wars: Allan Sloan

(Newser) - Ben Bernanke's push to keep interest rates low might be stimulating the US economy, but it's also raising the risk of currency wars, writes Allan Sloan at Fortune . "Cutting interest rates faster and more deeply than most other central banks has weakened the dollar against the currencies...

&#39;Free&#39; Checking Accounts: Not So Free Anymore
'Free' Checking Accounts:
Not So Free Anymore
survey says
Sep 24, 2012 10:06 AM CDT

'Free' Checking Accounts: Not So Free Anymore

Plus, credit card companies not passing on low interest rates

(Newser) - Free checking accounts were the norm in the 1990s, but not so anymore: Today just 39% of noninterest checking accounts are free to everyone, down from 76% in 2009 and 45% last year, a new Bankrate survey finds. Some banks are doing away with free checking accounts entirely; some are...

Let&#39;s Spend Like Reagan

 Let's Spend 
 Like Reagan 
Paul Krugman
Jun 8, 2012 1:15 PM CDT

Let's Spend Like Reagan

Krugman: He was a bigger spender than Obama in first years

(Newser) - At this point in his presidency, Ronald Reagan was presiding over a strong recovery, and President Obama clearly is not. The biggest difference? Government spending, writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times . Real per-capita government spending is up 6.4% under Obama, but under Reagan it soared 14.4%....

Trying to Refinance? Take a Number

With fewer banks, mortgage refinancing taking forver

(Newser) - Mortgage rates have been plummeting—they were at just 4.05% last month—and that, combined with Obama administration initiatives, has a lot of homeowners clamoring to refinance. There's just one problem: A lot of homeowners are clamoring to refinance. The financial crisis left fewer banks standing in the...

Bernanke: Full Recovery Years Away

Fed says inflation on target, but unemployment high, growth sluggish

(Newser) - Don't get too excited about that pending economic rebound . The Federal Reserve's announcement it will keep interest rates super-low into 2014 is a key sign that the US economy is years away from truly recovering, reports the New York Times . Yes, the economy has picked up "moderately,...

What's Up With Ron Paul's 'Austrian' Ideas?

Republican candidate trumpets strict libertarian philosophy

(Newser) - Just what did Ron Paul mean when he finished third in Iowa and said, "We are all Austrians now"? Republican candidates don't often celebrate European economic policies, but this is different, Matthew Yglesias writes in Slate . Those familiar with the inside baseball of libertarianism know that Paul...

Fed Panel Split Over Bernanke's Low Rates Policy

It's the most a chairman has faced in 19 years

(Newser) - Ben Bernanke's Tuesday announcement that the Fed is prepared to keep short-term interest rates close to zero for at least two more years is facing internal revolt from the Federal Open Market Committee, the 12-member committee of Fed presidents and governors that sets monetary policy, reports the Wall Street ...

Stock Rally Stutters
 Stock Rally Stutters 
Aug 10, 2011 4:38 AM CDT

Stock Rally Stutters

Falling futures mean we're not out of the woods

(Newser) - Global stocks were up early today following an uptick on Wall Street in the wake of the Fed's pledge to keep interest rates low. But it wasn't clear if the rebound would hold. Asia rates climbed and modest hikes marked Britain's FTSE 100 index (up .2%) and...

Second Phase of Double-Dip Recession Could Be Even Worse
Brace Yourself for Even
Worse 2nd Recession
analysis
Aug 8, 2011 8:33 AM CDT

Brace Yourself for Even Worse 2nd Recession

Could devastate a still-ailing economy, writes Catherine Rampell

(Newser) - Economists say we could be headed for a second recession—and if they’re right, it’s poised to be even more devastating than the first, writes Catherine Rampell in the New York Times . That’s because the starting point for the second dip would be our current weak economy,...

Sorry, Our Economy Has Never Been on the Mend

Washington better get focused on jobs fast: Paul Krugman

(Newser) - For far too long, we’ve been preoccupied with “the wrong worries,” focusing on the deficit when we should have been working on job creation, writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times . Now we’re seeing the fallout from that misguidedness. “Those plunging interest rates and...

Fed Keeps Rates Low; Bernanke to Face Media

Ben Bernanke will host the Fed's first news conference on policy

(Newser) - No surprises from the Fed today: Rates are staying low, and its $600 billion bond-buying program remains on track to end in June, reports MarketWatch . The Fed sees the economic recovery moving at a "moderate pace" and downplayed the risks of inflation. Far more interesting will be Ben Bernanke'...

Banks Profited by Loaning Fed Money Back to ... Feds

They charged bigger interest rates on cheap money from Uncle Sam

(Newser) - Crisis-walloped banks aided with federal loans likely made a fortune by lending the same money back to the federal government at substantially higher interest rates, a new report indicates. The study by the Congressional Research Service supports complaints that the largest banks essentially engaged in taxpayer-financed arbitrage by cashing in...

Your Future Bill for the National Debt: $2,500 a Year

... actually, that'll just cover the interest

(Newser) - The next decade will see interest payments on the national debt quadruple, forcing every American to essentially pay more than $2,500 yearly, the Washington Post finds in a look at President Obama’s budget plan. That means that starting in 2014, net interest payments will exceed spending on all...

China Jacks Up Interest Rates
 China Jacks Up Interest Rates 
Feb 8, 2011 5:55 AM CST

China Jacks Up Interest Rates

Country trying to slow down runaway growth, inflation

(Newser) - China pumped up its interest rates for the third time in four months today, in a desperate attempt to rein in inflation. One-year deposit rates rose to 3%, and the one-year lending rate to 6.06%, the New York Times reports, and analysts expect still more increases down the road.

Fed Will Pump $600B Into Economy
Fed Will Pump $600B
Into Economy
Nov 3, 2010 2:09 PM CDT

Fed Will Pump $600B Into Economy

Hopes to drive down rates, stimulate hiring

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve is making a bold effort to invigorate the economy by announcing it will buy hundreds of billions more in Treasury bonds. The Fed says it will buy $600 billion of long-term government bonds by the middle of 2011 to further drive down rates on mortgages and other...

Flush With Cash, US Companies Buy Own Stock

Instead of, for example, hiring

(Newser) - American companies are sitting on record piles of cash right now, but instead of spending it to hire more workers or increase productivity, most are choosing to buy back huge quantities of their own stock, the Washington Post reports. This year firms have announced $273 billion in buybacks, more than...

Krugman: We're Not Bouncing Back

'Policy-makers are in denial'

(Newser) - You know that recovery officials promise is underway? It's not happening, scoffs Paul Krugman, and he blames federal officials' reluctance to take responsibility. "This isn’t a recovery, in any sense that matters. And policy-makers should be doing everything they can to change that fact," he writes in...

Fed Holds Rates at Record Lows

Bernanke & Co. want to keep driving recovery

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve is sounding a more confident note that the economy is strengthening and pledges to hold rates at record lows to make sure it gains even more traction. Wrapping up a two-day meeting today, the Fed in a 9-1 decision retained its pledge to hold rates at historic...

Kiss Cheap Credit Goodbye
 Kiss Cheap Credit Goodbye 
Apr 11, 2010 7:32 AM CDT

Kiss Cheap Credit Goodbye

For those who can't remember 1981, rates are headed up

(Newser) - There's a generation of consumers out there that can't fathom 8% interest, much less 1981's peak of 18.2%, but the days of free or cheap money are coming to a rapid close. With national debt ballooning, inflation looming, and government props that suppressed interest rates ending, the cost of...

Fed Raises an Interest Rate
 Fed Raises an Interest Rate 
Feb 18, 2010 5:19 PM CST

Fed Raises an Interest Rate

But no change expected soon on benchmark rate

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve raised the discount rate—the interest rate it charges banks for emergency loans—by a quarter point today. The central bank said the move, widely expected by the financial community, represented only the winding down of the extraordinary measures taken during the financial crisis to stimulate lending,...

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