Dr. Lisa Cook made history after the Senate voted along party lines Tuesday to approve her nomination to the Federal Reserve, where she will be the first Black woman to serve on the Board of Governors. The vote was 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking a tie. Senate Democrats lauded Cook’s credentials, and Republicans cast doubt about her …
Read More »Federal Reserve Raises Interest Rates By A Half Point To Fight Inflation
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a percentage point on Wednesday — the biggest increase to short-term borrowing costs in more than two decades — and alerted consumers that more hikes of this size are yet to come, marking the U.S. central bank’s most aggressive moves yet to …
Read More »Senate Confirms Lael Brainard As Federal Reserve Vice Chair
After weeks of delays due in part to Republican obstructionism, the United States Senate has confirmed the nomination of Lael Brainard, a member of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, as the next vice chair of the central bank. In a 52–43 vote on the Senate floor on Tuesday, lawmakers …
Read More »Fed Raises Interest Rates for First Time Since 2018
The Federal Reserve announced that it is raising interest rates for the first time in three years to help bring the skyrocketing inflation under control. “With appropriate firming in the stance of monetary policy, the Committee expects inflation to return to its 2 percent objective and the labor market to remain …
Read More »Federal Reserve Rolls Out New Trading Restrictions For Senior Officials
The Federal Reserve has barred senior officials from a number of investment activities, particularly those involving individual stocks, bonds, cryptocurrencies and commodities. The Federal Open Markets Committee announced the new rules on February 18. They specifically bar covered officials: “[F]rom purchasing individual stocks or sector funds; holding investments in individual …
Read More »Fed Officials Signal March Rate Hike as Inflation Surges to Almost 40-Year High
U.S. Federal Reserve officials signaled last week that the central bank could start raising interest rates in March as U.S. annual inflation surged to an almost 40-year high in December. “Inflation is too high, and working people around the country are concerned about how far their paychecks will go,” Fed …
Read More »Biden Nominates Three Federal Reserve Officials
President Joe Biden on Friday announced his nomination of three Federal Reserve officials as he seeks to reshape the central bank amid bumpy economic recovery. Biden nominated Sarah Bloom Raskin to serve as Vice-Chair for Supervision of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and nominated Lisa Cook …
Read More »Unemployment Rates Are The Lowest Since Pandemic Started
The unemployment rate in the United States fell to 5.8% as employers added 559,000 jobs to the economy during the month of May. It’s the lowest jobless rate since March of 2020, when unemployment was 4.4%. “It’s great to see a pickup to job growth, but it would have been …
Read More »Biden May Nominate Janet Yellen, Making Her The First Female Treasury Secretary
President-elect Joe Biden may nominate Janet Yellen to serve as Treasury secretary, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal. Yellen, a former Federal Reserve chairwoman will be the first woman to serve as head of the Department of Treasury. In 2014, Yellen became the first woman to head the …
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