Federal Reservations

Stocks will have plenty to digest in today’s session, with a host of consequential economic reports on deck. The Jobless Claims and Personal Income & Outlays readings were overall favorable, which should set for a favorable tone at the open. And going by the strong Chicago PMI reading on Wednesday, it is reasonable to expect further gains from the manufacturing ISM survey coming out a little later.
Wednesday’s loss of momentum in the market followed Fed Chair Bernanke’s congressional … [visit site to read more] or compare Credit Card Rewards and Best Credit Cards

Originally from DailyMarkets.com

While just about everyone attributed the sharp drop in gold futures to comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday, Phil Flynn, a vice president and energy analyst at PFG Best, pointed out that North Korea played a part too. North Korea has agreed to suspend its nuclear activities, removing a geopolitical risk premium in gold, said Flynn."If North Korea gets out of the Axis of Evil, we'll have only one axle left and that means a flat tire," he said, further explaining that if North Korea opens up, that may have a major impact on commodities -- bearish for gold and bullish for oil.It's too early to tell if North Korea's agreement marks a major shift, but if there is a major shift, "we could be looking at a new emerging market in the next few years," said Flynn.-- Myra SaefongFollow The Tell on Twitter @thetellblogFollow Myra @MktwSaefong

Originally from MarketWatch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Top Federal Reserve officials said on Friday the U.S. central bank's ultra-easy monetary policy is appropriate for a sluggish economy but one policymaker said further easing would only be warranted if conditions worsen.

Originally from Reuters: Business News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Top Federal Reserve officials said on Friday the U.S. central bank's ultra-easy monetary policy is appropriate for a sluggish economy but one policymaker said further easing would only be warranted if conditions worsen.

Originally from Reuters: Business News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Top Federal Reserve officials said on Friday the U.S. central bank's ultra-easy monetary policy is appropriate for a sluggish economy but one policymaker said further easing would only be warranted if conditions worsen.

Originally from Reuters: Business News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Top Federal Reserve officials said on Friday the U.S. central bank's ultra-easy policy is appropriate for a sluggish economy but one policymaker said further easing would only be warranted if conditions worsen.

Originally from Reuters: Business News

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke called for new policies to help the nation's weak housing market, calling it a significant factor holding back the economic recovery.

Originally from WSJ.com: Economy

Fed Chairman Bernanke warned lawmakers of the importance of the need to address the fiscal challenges facing the U.S.

Originally from WSJ.com: Economy

Fed Chairman Bernanke warned lawmakers of the importance of the need to address the fiscal challenges facing the U.S.

Originally from WSJ.com: Economy

Matt Yglesias has a great post over at Moneybox (paragraph breaks added):

The need for regime change.

… The Depression discredited the gold standard and a whole set of related notions.

The Great Inflation discredited ideas about the Phillips Curve …

We had, until recently, the Great Moderation Consensus that … the Federal Reserve has the ability to stabilize the macroeconomy by fiddling with interest rates.

Well now here we are and the Federal Reserve can’t stabilize the macroeconomy by fiddling with interest rates.

That calls for the creation of a new regime.

I’ve dumbed it down a bit here. He also talks about employment, for instance, including this great line:

…if the government isn’t abandoning the idea of full employment then they have a mighty strange way of showing it.

But I think I’ve imparted the main question. We’ve been or are going through a paradigm-falsifying “moment.” (As always, some good thinking will be cast aside along with some bad.)

What will move into the vacuum left by the (at least partially) ravaged Great Moderation paradigm?

Courtesy of David Beckworth and The Kauffman Foundation (PDF), here’s how econobloggers would like that question to be answered (thanks, FTA, for the great question):

Personally, I fondly envision some coherent amalgam of the M&M gang: Market Monetarists (NGDPers) and Modern Monetary Theorists (with a decent dose of the Austrian’s insight into real-economy production and productivity). I’m guessing that some have already ventured (some parts of) this amalgamation, quite possibly in posts I’ve already read and since forgotten. Thoughts? Links?

(Even as I post this I find that vimothy, JKH, and Steve Randy Waldman are worrying productively at parts of this very question in the comments here.)

Cross-posted at Asymptosis.

Originally from Angry Bear