Showing posts with label Main Street. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Main Street. Show all posts
Thursday, February 3
Friday, November 5
Has Federal Reserve Secrecy Become Untenable?
The most interesting aspect of the Fed's new 'quantitative easing' announcement (aka QE2 ) was not its $600,000,000,000 price tag.
Nor Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's op-ed in the Washington Post which stated that a key benefit of QE2 is higher stock prices.
I believe the most interesting, and perhaps significant, questions relate to the impact on the Fed's ability to maintain secrecy in wake of the unprecedented media coverage of QE2.
A Well Telegraphed Event
Regular Fed watchers of course know that an oft used Fed strategy is to communicate upcoming policy shifts through speeches and leaks to the press well in advance of the actual vote and formal policy change announcement. The Fed's thinking here is that this strategy provides time for market participants to acclimate to an upcoming policy change, thereby avoiding a sudden (and perhaps unwelcome) monetary surprise.
Anyone following the general financial press was probably aware no later than September that QE2 was going to be announced at the November Fed meeting. Media coverage of QE2, including my first writeup, began appearing as early as June.
Nor Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's op-ed in the Washington Post which stated that a key benefit of QE2 is higher stock prices.
I believe the most interesting, and perhaps significant, questions relate to the impact on the Fed's ability to maintain secrecy in wake of the unprecedented media coverage of QE2.
A Well Telegraphed Event
Anyone following the general financial press was probably aware no later than September that QE2 was going to be announced at the November Fed meeting. Media coverage of QE2, including my first writeup, began appearing as early as June.
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