Norbolsa| Banks are finally signing up for a US Federal Reserve funding mechanism that has been largely dormant for more than two years, putting them in a stronger position to cope with any stress. It is unclear, however, whether they will want to use it in the event of a crisis. The Standing Repo Facility allows banks to borrow emergency overnight cash from the Federal Reserve through a repurchase agreement,…

Bankinter: The main messages to come out of the 31 January meeting are: Growth outlook revised upwards after a solid Q4. Employment and wages remain strong but have moderated. The overall and underlying PCE readings will continue to decelerate in 2024, but are still off target. Uncertainty in the projections remains high, but has been reduced. Risks to the inflation projections stand out. Fed members put on the table the…

Bankinter| The US Federal Reserve (Fed) met expectations and left the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 5.25%/5.50%. Assessment: The Fed’s statement did not introduce any new developments and the decision met expectations by repeating rates once again. However, the key to the meeting was Powell’s message. In line with the previous meeting, the tone remained cautious. The Fed Chairman once again said that the central bank “will proceed carefully”, avoiding…

J.P. Marín-Arrese | The Fed kept rates on hold this week. Yet, Jerome Powell shattered hopes they had reached a ceiling, announcing in the press conference that an extra hike was in the pipeline before the year-end. Inflation is still running too high and will likely take much longer than expected to match its medium-term goal. Powell was at odds in justifying why rate stiffening has neither cooled the economy…

Banca March| The Fed has proposed, in its role as supervisor of the US banking sector, to apply stricter controls on capital levels to a larger number of institutions. This role will include, according to the new plan, those financial institutions with assets of at least $100 billion. According to Michael S. Barr, vice-president for supervision, with this new threshold, a greater number of institutions will be subject to stricter…

Bankinter: The minutes of the Fed’s 13/14 June meeting show a broad consensus on the decision for a pause in rate hikes although a majority of directors (16 out of 18) believe that some additional rate hikes in the future from the current level of 5.00%-5.25% are appropriate. There is also a consensus that rates should remain in tightening territory until inflation reaches its 2% target. The minutes hardly change…