Bernanke to outline exit path to skeptical Congress

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Ben Bernanke may have cleared the hurdles to his confirmation for a second term as Federal Reserve chairman, but that does not mean lawmakers will be any friendlier to him at high-profile hearings on Wednesday and Thursday.

Fed’s Evans: Monetary policy not effective for pricking bubbles

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Monetary policy  is not an effective tool for pricking asset bubbles, but central banks without authority to supervise banks may have no alternative, Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans said Tuesday.

Mortgage-Bond Yield Spreads Approach Lowest Level on Record

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

Fannie Mae’s current-coupon 30-year fixed-rate mortgage bonds narrowed 0.03 percentage point to about 0.65 percentage point more than 10-year Treasuries as of 4:45 p.m. in New York, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The gap reached 0.59 percentage point on March 29, two days before the Federal Reserve ended its buying of $1.25 trillion of [...]

Fed plans mortgage payment disclosure rule

Monday, March 14th, 2011

The Federal Reserve on Monday issued a package of rules and proposals for mortgages, including a measure that would require lenders to disclose to borrowers how their mortgage payments can change over time.