The Fed and Treasury

Will Trump Try to ‘Overrule’ Monetary Policy?

By Mark Thoma

How will the Federal Reserve evolve during Donald Trump’s term as president? Presently, three of the seven positions on the Federal Reserve Board are vacant. These vacancies, along with the...
Why the Treasury Is Ending a Low-Income Retirement Saving Program

By Beth Braverman

Less than two years after the Obama administration rolled out a myRA, a savings program aimed at helping the millions of Americans without access to a retirement account through work, the Trump...
Will Janet Yellen Give Wall Street a Scare?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

For years, the Federal Reserve has been unable to convince the market it's serious about aggressively tightening policy. Janet Yellen and her cohorts have been guilty of "crying wolf," constantly...
Is the Fed About to Wage War on the Rich?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

For years, stocks have been driven relentlessly higher thanks to a single statement that summarized the aggressive central bank largesse since the eurozone crisis flared up in 2012: Policymakers...
Is the Fed Fighting the Trump Rally?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

The evidence is growing that the Federal Reserve’s policymakers are actively working to lean against the stock market's rise, a dramatic reversal from the years of policy support stock market bulls...

The Fed’s Big Mistake: Rate Hikes Hurt US Workers

By David Dayen

Protesters rallied in Washington, New York City and Philadelphia yesterday against an imminent government action that would damage the financial prospects of ordinary workers. And no, it had nothing...
The Fed, the Reality of Tax Cuts, and Donald Trump

By Mark Thoma

For many years, Republicans argued that tax cuts for the wealthy pay for themselves. Cutting taxes on the wealthy, according to Republicans, allows them to keep a larger share of anything new they...
Will Unwinding the Fed’s $4.5 Trillion Balance Sheet Kill the Bull Market?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

Over the last decade, investors have grown accustomed to a Federal Reserve that constantly coddled them, allayed their fears and did everything possible to support the financial markets and asset...
The Key to This Market: Here’s What Will Determine if Stocks Rise or Fall

By Anthony Mirhaydari

For now, instead of putting pressure on risk assets, the Fed's newfound hawkishness is bolstering the reflation trade by lifting the dollar higher and attracting global capital into U.S. assets. Same...
Can Wall Street Handle Higher Interest Rates?

By Anthony Mirhaydari

The Federal Reserve just raised interest rates for the second time in three months, signaling a dramatic quickening of its prior pace. For the first time in more than a decade, Fed policymakers are...

Yellen Really Doesn’t Want to Take Away the Punch Bowl

By Yuval Rosenberg

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday that the Obama administration is upset at the “divisive rhetoric” that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used toward Israel’s Arab citizens...
Why Janet Yellen Can’t Wait to Hike Interest Rates

By Anthony Mirhaydari

The wait is almost over. It's been almost nine years since the Federal Reserve last raised its Federal Funds rate. Over that time, the monetary base has swelled from $812 billion to nearly $4...
As Government Hits Debt Ceiling, Treasury Taps Federal Pensions

By Kellie Lunney, Government Executive

The Treasury Department has suspended investments into federal employees' pensions, as the government officially hit its debt ceiling of about $18.1 trillion on Monday. The law allows the government...
Interest Rate Anticipation Rattles the Markets

By Patti Domm, CNBC

The Federal Reserve in the coming week may finally signal it is on a course to raise interest rates for the first time in nine years. Anticipation of a change in its more than 6-year-old zero-rate...
70% of Americans Don’t Know the Woman Pulling Their Purse Strings

By Yuval Rosenberg

She may be the most powerful woman in the country — arguably, in the world — but most Americans don’t know who Fed Chair Janet Yellen is. In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey conducted this...

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