This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareFor the first time since the aftermath of the Great Recession, the Federal Reserve is putting new restrictions on how the country’s biggest banks spend capital, with an eye toward protecting the financial system from risks to the economy posed by the coronavirus pandemic.The Fed ordered the country’s 33 biggest banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America, to suspend their stock buyback programs and limit dividend payments to shareholders in the third quarter. The banks must also submit new plans for...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareFor the first time since the aftermath of the Great Recession, the Federal Reserve is putting new restrictions on how the country’s biggest banks spend capital, with an eye toward protecting the financial system from risks to the economy posed by the coronavirus pandemic.The Fed ordered the country’s 33 biggest banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America, to suspend their stock buyback programs and limit dividend payments to shareholders in the third quarter. The banks must also submit new plans for...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareAtlanta police chief Erika Shields resigned Saturday after video emerged of another fatal police shooting of an African American, and as protests over police brutality and racism continued for the third straight weekend.Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who announced Shields’s departure, also called for the immediate termination of the police officer involved in the shooting of 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks after a DUI stop, saying she did not “believe that this was a justified use of deadly force.”“What has become...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareAtlanta police chief Erika Shields resigned Saturday after video emerged of another fatal police shooting of an African American, and as protests over police brutality and racism continued for the third straight weekend.Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who announced Shields’s departure, also called for the immediate termination of the police officer involved in the shooting of 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks after a DUI stop, saying she did not “believe that this was a justified use of deadly force.”“What has become...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift SharePORTLAND, Ore. — The Oregon attorney general filed a lawsuit late Friday night alleging that the federal government had violated Oregonians’ civil rights by seizing and detaining them without probable cause during protests against police brutality in the past week.The legal action comes after days of intensifying clashes between the Trump administration and Portland officials, who have accused federal agencies of heavy-handed tactics that inflame unrest and threaten citizens.Department of Homeland Security agents have...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift SharePORTLAND, Ore. — The Oregon attorney general filed a lawsuit late Friday night alleging that the federal government had violated Oregonians’ civil rights by seizing and detaining them without probable cause during protests against police brutality in the past week.The legal action comes after days of intensifying clashes between the Trump administration and Portland officials, who have accused federal agencies of heavy-handed tactics that inflame unrest and threaten citizens.Department of Homeland Security agents have...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareInvestors received a reality check Wednesday on what happens when the world’s biggest economy comes to a near stop. A series of wrenching numbers on retail sales, oil prices and bank profits knocked a stock rally off its tracks and hit the pause button on investor optimism.The Dow Jones industrial average was in the red all day, closing down 445 points, or nearly 1.9 percent, to finish at 23,504. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 2.2 percent to 2,783, and the Nasdaq composite slid 1.4 percent to wind up at 8,393....…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareInvestors received a reality check Wednesday on what happens when the world’s biggest economy comes to a near stop. A series of wrenching numbers on retail sales, oil prices and bank profits knocked a stock rally off its tracks and hit the pause button on investor optimism.The Dow Jones industrial average was in the red all day, closing down 445 points, or nearly 1.9 percent, to finish at 23,504. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 2.2 percent to 2,783, and the Nasdaq composite slid 1.4 percent to wind up at 8,393....WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift SharePresident Trump on signed a $900 billion stimulus bill into law, avoiding a government shutdown after he demanded changes to the sprawling package and held up the legislation’s enactment.The package will extend aid to millions of struggling households through stimulus checks, enhanced federal unemployment benefits, and money for small businesses, schools and child care, as well as for vaccine distribution. It also repurposes $429 billion in unused funding provided by the Cares Act for run by the Federal Reserve.The...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift SharePresident Trump on signed a $900 billion stimulus bill into law, avoiding a government shutdown after he demanded changes to the sprawling package and held up the legislation’s enactment.The package will extend aid to millions of struggling households through stimulus checks, enhanced federal unemployment benefits, and money for small businesses, schools and child care, as well as for vaccine distribution. It also repurposes $429 billion in unused funding provided by the Cares Act for run by the Federal Reserve.The...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareJudy Shelton’s nomination to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors was blocked in the Senate on Tuesday, with bipartisan opposition to the controversial economist and GOP absences prompted by the coronavirus imperiling her candidacy.The vote had been expected to be razor-thin for Shelton, who was nominated by President Trump despite her past criticism of the central bank and her unorthodox views of monetary policy. But after the vote was scheduled, two Republicans, Sens. Rick Scott (Fla.) and Charles E. Grassley (Iowa),...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareJudy Shelton’s nomination to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors was blocked in the Senate on Tuesday, with bipartisan opposition to the controversial economist and GOP absences prompted by the coronavirus imperiling her candidacy.The vote had been expected to be razor-thin for Shelton, who was nominated by President Trump despite her past criticism of the central bank and her unorthodox views of monetary policy. But after the vote was scheduled, two Republicans, Sens. Rick Scott (Fla.) and Charles E. Grassley (Iowa),...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift SharePresident-elect Joe Biden’s transition team condemned the Trump administration’s decision to end several emergency lending programs, blasting the move Friday as “deeply irresponsible” given the ongoing economic threats posed by the pandemic.Biden’s team has not been in communication with the Treasury Department and had no advance notice or consultation that would pull the plug on several emergency lending programs run jointly by the Treasury and Federal Reserve, according to Biden policy advisers.Aides to the...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift SharePresident-elect Joe Biden’s transition team condemned the Trump administration’s decision to end several emergency lending programs, blasting the move Friday as “deeply irresponsible” given the ongoing economic threats posed by the pandemic.Biden’s team has not been in communication with the Treasury Department and had no advance notice or consultation that would pull the plug on several emergency lending programs run jointly by the Treasury and Federal Reserve, according to Biden policy advisers.Aides to the...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThe White House and Congress are fighting over an economic relief bill, and they will reach a deal before the November election. Yet hundreds of billions of dollars already set aside by lawmakers to support the Federal Reserve’s emergency aid programs may never be touched, illustrating the unevenness of Congress’s bailout decisions from earlier this year.In March, Congress allotted $454 billion to the Treasury Department to support the central bank’s emergency lending programs, including those for struggling businesses...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThe White House and Congress are fighting over an economic relief bill, and they will reach a deal before the November election. Yet hundreds of billions of dollars already set aside by lawmakers to support the Federal Reserve’s emergency aid programs may never be touched, illustrating the unevenness of Congress’s bailout decisions from earlier this year.In March, Congress allotted $454 billion to the Treasury Department to support the central bank’s emergency lending programs, including those for struggling businesses...WW…

This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareAs he drove past the intersection of 21st and E streets in Northwest Washington, a 68-year-old man peered through the window, struck by an encampment of homeless people here that grew from 10 tents to 20 in the past year. Then 30. Now 40.The people living in those tents had no idea that their burgeoning village kept this man, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell, up at night, or that he kept thinking about them as he drove two blocks south to his office. Powell doesn’t know their names or backstories, either. But what he...…This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareAs he drove past the intersection of 21st and E streets in Northwest Washington, a 68-year-old man peered through the window, struck by an encampment of homeless people here that grew from 10 tents to 20 in the past year. Then 30. Now 40.The people living in those tents had no idea that their burgeoning village kept this man, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell, up at night, or that he kept thinking about them as he drove two blocks south to his office. Powell doesn’t know their names or backstories, either. But what he...WW…

This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareFederal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell warned in an interview broadcast Sunday that reopening the economy too quickly could lead to another worrisome jump in coronavirus cases, arguing that the country has not completely turned the corner and that the pandemic continues to pose major risks to any recovery.Powell, speaking in a “60 Minutes” interview, also said that the coronavirus pandemic had exacerbated economic disparities in the United States and that this could take time to address during an uneven recovery.In the...…This article was published more than 1 year agoCommentGift ShareFederal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell warned in an interview broadcast Sunday that reopening the economy too quickly could lead to another worrisome jump in coronavirus cases, arguing that the country has not completely turned the corner and that the pandemic continues to pose major risks to any recovery.Powell, speaking in a “60 Minutes” interview, also said that the coronavirus pandemic had exacerbated economic disparities in the United States and that this could take time to address during an uneven recovery.In the...WW…