What Is Ben Bernanke’s Favorite Word?

Ben Bernanke Goes On Record to Warn US Deficit 'Not Sustainable'
THE GUARDIAN: Obama must address debt quickly, warns Federal Reserve chief, while interest rates will stay low to protect recovery

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke used his historic first conference to warn that the US deficit is "not sustainable" and tell political leaders they must address it "as quickly and effectively as they can".

Speaking at what was the first ever press conference on interest rate policy to be given by a Fed chairman, Bernanke confirmed that the US will keep interest rates low and continue its huge programme of buying back government bonds in order to keep the fragile economic recovery on track.

The conference followed a statement from the federal open market committee, which stated that the US recovery was "proceeding at a moderate pace, and overall conditions in the labour market are improving gradually". Household spending and business investment were picking up, but construction and the housing sector remained depressed, said the committee. » | Dominic Rushe in New York | Thursday, April 28, 2011

How profound, Mr. Bernanke! Please tell us something we don’t already know. – © Mark

THE GUARDIAN: Gold hits fresh high as US dollar falls to three-year low: Gold price rises to $1,532.91 an ounce after US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke effectively ruled out an early interest rate rise » | Zoe Wood | Thursday, April 28, 2011

Euroview: Bernanke Unlikely To Halt Dollar's Slide
The U.S. dollar is unlikely to garner any support from Wednesday's FOMC decision, or from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments, and will remain out of favor for a while longer

Dollar Falls to New Low as Markets Await Fed's Next Move
THE GUARDIAN: Ben Bernanke, chairman of Federal Reserve, expected to maintain loose monetary policy

The US dollar has fallen to new lows against other major currencies, undermined by predictions that the US would continue to resist pressure to raise interest rates.

In early trading, the dollar dropped to its weakest level ever against the Swiss franc, having touched a record low against the Australian dollar overnight. It also hit a four-week low against the yen, while the dollar index, which measures it against a basket of rival currencies, was close to its lowest level since August 2008.

The fall came a few hours ahead of the start of the Federal Reserve's monthly two-day meeting to set monetary policy.

City experts believe that this will be a defining week for the dollar. Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Fed, will for the first time hold a press conference on Wednesday evening immediately after the Federal open market committee has voted. Traders expect no change to the Fed's current loose monetary position. » | Graeme Wearden | Tuesday, April 26, 2011

«Bernanke pumpt eine weitere Blase auf»
TAGES ANZEIGER: Der Chef des Bostoner Vermögensverwalters GMO, Jeremy Grantham, hält Aktien für überbewertet und warnt vor grossen Risiken am Bondmarkt.

Wenige Investoren haben in den vergangenen Jahren so viel Klarsicht bewiesen wie Jeremy Grantham. Der Gründer des Bostoner Vermögensverwalters GMO warnte vor 2007 wiederholt vor einem Kollaps am US-Immobilienmarkt und vor einem Börsencrash. Im März 2009, auf dem Höhepunkt der Marktpanik, empfahl er in einem Kundenbrief mit dem Titel «Reinvesting When Terrified» den Kauf von Aktien. Heute ist er skeptisch. Die Aktienmärkte seien als Folge der enorm expansiven Geldpolitik der US-Notenbank bereits überbewertet, während der Bondmarkt für Investoren «tödlich» sei – ein Riesendilemma für Anleger, sagt Grantham. Er rät zum Aufbau von Cashreserven. » | Von Mark Dittli, Finanz und Wirtschaft | Donnerstag, 14. April 2011

Wall Street Rattled by $100 Oil
Mar 1 - Summary of business headlines: Oil spikes close to $100 on Middle East worries causing a 1.5 percent drop across Wall Street; Fed chief thinks price spike will be short; Factory activity, auto sales point to stronger recovery. Conway Gittens reports

Financial Crisis Was Avoidable, Inquiry Finds
The commission’s report finds fault with two Fed chairmen: Alan Greenspan, right, a skeptic of regulation who led the central bank as the housing bubble expanded, and his successor, Ben S. Bernanke, who did not foresee the crisis but then played a crucial role in the response to it. Photograph: The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES: WASHINGTON — The 2008 financial crisis was an “avoidable” disaster caused by widespread failures in government regulation, corporate mismanagement and heedless risk-taking by Wall Street, according to the conclusions of a federal inquiry.

The commission that investigated the crisis casts a wide net of blame, faulting two administrations, the Federal Reserve and other regulators for permitting a calamitous concoction: shoddy mortgage lending, the excessive packaging and sale of loans to investors and risky bets on securities backed by the loans.

“The greatest tragedy would be to accept the refrain that no one could have seen this coming and thus nothing could have been done,” the panel wrote in the report’s conclusions, which were read by The New York Times. “If we accept this notion, it will happen again.”

While the panel, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, accuses several financial institutions of greed, ineptitude or both, some of its gravest conclusions concern government failings, with embarrassing implications for both parties. But the panel was itself divided along partisan lines, which could blunt the impact of its findings.

Many of the conclusions have been widely described, but the synthesis of interviews, documents and testimony, along with its government imprimatur, give the report — to be released on Thursday as a 576-page book — a conclusive sweep and authority. >>> Sewell Chan | Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Billige Dollar: Schäuble – Die Fed bricht internationale Abmachung
WELT ONLINE: Die US-Notenbank will die Wirtschaft mit der Notenpresse ankurbeln. Finanzminister Schäuble übt daran nun ungewöhnlich scharfe Kritik.

Finanzminister Schäuble kündigt an, die "amerikanischen Freunde" auf dem G-20-Gipfel kritisch ansprechen zu wollen. Foto: Welt Online
Bundesfinanzminister Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) hat die jüngste Maßnahme der US-Notenbank zur Ankurbelung der Wirtschaft als Bruch internationaler Abmachungen kritisiert. Die großen Wirtschaftsprobleme der USA seien mit noch mehr Schulden nicht zu lösen, sagte Schäuble am Donnerstagabend den ARD-„Tagesthemen“. „Das war übrigens gemeinsame Politik, der sich noch alle Industrieländer, auch die USA, beim G-20-Gipfel in Toronto (...) ausdrücklich verpflichtet haben.“

US-Notenbankchef Ben Bernanke verteidigte dagegen den geldpolitischen Kurs der Federal Reserve. Die US-Notenbank hatte verkündet, Staatsanleihen für 600 Milliarden Dollar zu kaufen. Nach den Worten Schäubles bereiten die USA der internationalen Finanzwelt damit zusätzliche Probleme. Experten fürchten eine ausufernde Inflation sowie eine Verschärfung der weltweiten Währungsungleichgewichte.

„Wir werden das auch in bilateralen Gesprächen, aber natürlich auch beim G-20-Gipfel in der kommenden Woche in Südkorea mit unseren amerikanischen Freunden kritisch ansprechen“, kündigte der Minister an. Die USA wollen mit dem umstrittenen Manöver die Kreditzinsen senken, um auf diese Weise die schleppende Nachfrage anzukurbeln. Die neue Milliardenstütze der US-Notenbank lässt Europas Währungshüter kalt. EZB-Präsident Jean-Claude Trichet stellte am Donnerstag klar, dass die Europäische Zentralbank (EZB) an ihrem Kurs festhält und den Geldhahn allmählich zudrehen wird. >>> dpa/tma | Freitag, 05. November 2010