Fed

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Nobody’s perfect. Certainly not her character in the new series, Rookie: Feds, says Niecy Nash Betts. In the series, Nash-Betts plays Special Agent Simone Clark, who is the oldest rookie in the FBI Academy and has just been assigned to support the LA field office. Of Clark’s approach to her new job, Nash-Betts says, “Will [she] get everything right every time? No. But her heart and her passion is definitely going to lead her in ways that sometimes a technical thing you find in a book will not.” The series is a spin-off of The Rookie , which debuted in 2018 and stars Nathan Fillion as police officer John Nolan, who joined the LAPD as its oldest recruit. Co-creator and executive producer Alexi Hawley says that because the series share the same universe there will be interaction between the shows, and not just with the two leads, but with all of the characters on both shows. “Police and the FBI work hand in hand … [Read more...] about Niecy Nash-Betts Walks The Line Between Comedy And Drama In ‘The Rookie: Feds’

This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on October 3, 2022 - October 09, 2022. - A + A After having been flippant about inflation, calling it transitory even as late as last year, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) now appears determined to battle inflation. After five consecutive rate hikes this year, bringing the overnight fed funds rate from 0.25% to 3.25%, the Fed may have dug in its heels, but so too, it seems, has inflation. The latest numbers show US inflation to be getting hotter, broader-based and more entrenched. It appears that several more rate hikes may be necessary. The Fed may have been behind the curve, but it is not the only one. Both the European Central Bank and Bank of England seem to be in the same position. All three central banks have raised rates aggressively and committed to quantitative tightening, reversing their earlier bond purchases. This synchronous tightening in the developed world is bad news for the … [Read more...] about My Say: As the Fed battles inflation, emerging markets risk being collateral damage

While there are some signs that global and domestic inflation pressures are easing, high prices have spread, making it harder to quell quickly, a top US central banker said Monday. Continued strong demand for goods and for workers will keep pressure on inflation — which has hit the highest in 40 years — New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams said. “This is resulting in broad-based inflation, which will take longer to bring down,” he said. Prices soared over the past year in part due to worldwide supply chain snags, creating shortages of key components like computer chips needed for cars and electronics. Those issues have been exacerbated by zero-Covid policies in China and the Russian invasion of Ukraine that sent food and energy prices surging. Those supply constraints are easing, while rising interest rates are cooling demand, helping to bring down prices of many commodities like lumber, which should lower inflation, Williams said in a speech to the US … [Read more...] about US ‘broad-based’ inflation will take time to come down, says Fed official

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin For much of last year you could get a 30-year mortgage at around a 3% rate. Now mortgage costs are closing in on 7%. That’s a dramatic change in the affordability of U.S. housing in a short space of time. Recent data on house prices is showing some of the biggest drops in over a decade. However, it is early days, with prices still generally up year over year. Housing Affordability Mortgage rates matter for many buyers since these figures determine what many of them can afford. The median home sales price in August was $436,800, according to U.S. Census data. That means that the monthly mortgage cost of a house has risen from approximately $1,000 to $2,500 for new home buyers. Of course, not everyone buys homes with a mortgage, but many do, and so the affordability of a home has been reduced for many Americans in the space of just a year. The Atlanta Fed tracks housing affordability here , and though the data is … [Read more...] about Mortgage Rates Are Closing In On 7%, Signaling Risk Of House Price Declines

- A + A TOKYO/SYDNEY/LONDON (Oct 3): Governments and companies around the world are facing unprecedented costs to refinance bonds, a burden that’s set to deepen fissures in debt markets and expose more vulnerabilities among weaker borrowers. A corporate treasurer or finance minister looking to issue new notes now would likely have to pay interest that’s about 156 basis points higher on average than the coupons on existing securities, after that gap surged to a record in recent days. That all adds up to about US$1.01 trillion in additional costs if all those securities were refinanced, according to calculations using a Bloomberg index tracking some US$65 trillion of government and corporate debt across currencies. That broad benchmark of global debt lost 6.8% last quarter, its second-worst drop after a record slide in the previous three months, data stretching back to 1999 show. Monday brought little relief, with spreads on Asian high-grade dollar bonds little … [Read more...] about A US$1 tril burden looms for world borrowers refinancing debt

- A + A KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 3): The ringgit ended lower against the US dollar on Monday (Oct 3) despite higher oil prices, said an analyst. At 6.01pm, the local currency eased to 4.6470/6500 against the greenback from Friday’s close of 4.6360/6390. SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said in the wake of last week’s UK risk asset meltdown, markets are not functioning well and demand for risky Asia assets is mute. “Surprisingly the ringgit is not stronger as oil is up 2%, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) may cut production to put a price floor under oil prices. “Exporter retention of US dollar and Employees’ Provident Fund overseas investment remain the primary drag outside of the hawkish Federal Reserve (Fed),” he told Bernama . Meanwhile, Bank Islam Bhd chief economist Firdaos Rosli said the ringgit trading this week will be contingent upon the upcoming release of the US non-farm payrolls report and the ongoing … [Read more...] about Ringgit falls against US dollar at close

LONDON – The final quarter of the year got off to a shaky start on Monday, with world stocks languishing at their lowest levels since late 2020 – when the global economy was still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. Oil prices jumped more than 4 percent as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, said it would consider reducing output, while sterling rallied after the UK government said it would reverse a controversial tax cut that had rocked British markets. But sentiment across markets remained frail given worries that aggressive interest rate hikes from the likes of the U.S. Federal Reserve raises global recession risks. European equity markets were a sea of red, with the STOXX 600 index down 1.4 percent. Shares in beleaguered Swiss bank Credit Suisse fell around 10 percent in early trading, reflecting market concern about the group as it finalizes a restructuring program due to be announced on Oct. 27. Asian stocks … [Read more...] about Q4 off to shaky start as stocks stumble, but oil jumps by more than 4%

FILE PHOTO: A symphony of light consisting of bars, lines and circles in blue and yellow, the colors of the European Union, illuminates the south facade of the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, Dec. 30, 2021. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay FRANKFURT – The European Central Bank will raise interest rates for the first time in 11 years on Thursday with a bigger-than-flagged move seen as increasingly likely as policymakers fear losing control of runaway consumer price growth. With inflation already approaching double digit territory, it is now at risk of getting entrenched above the ECB’s 2-percent target, requiring rate hikes even if that slows – or crashes – an economy already suffering from the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine. But policymakers appear far from united on just how fast the ECB should move with some arguing that it is already a long way behind the curve, especially compared to global peers like the U.S. Federal Reserve, while others point to … [Read more...] about ECB to finally join rate hike club with big move on agenda

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The man with the plan: Bert "Tito" Beveridge and his homemade still. Credit: Michael Thad Carter For ... [+] Forbes IT'S A BLISTERING MORNING in June, 15 miles southeast of Austin, Tex. , and Tito Beveridge is making a key point about the history of his craft vodka business. Dragging out a filthy, dog-eared copy of the ATF's federal regulations--on importing distilled spirits, wines and beer--he tells the story of talking nay-saying officials into giving him the first license for a distillery in Texas (and the only one-man booze business licensed by the feds). Out of the binding jumps a scorpion that launches its stinger into the palm of his hand. "S---," he mutters, and goes off to find Benadryl and baking soda. Sometimes reality bites. That's proving to be a challenge for Fifth Generation, maker of Tito's Handmade Vodka . More precisely: how to maintain the fiction of being a small-batch brand … [Read more...] about The Troubling Success Of Tito’s Handmade Vodka

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The past few years have been unsettling for Andrew Beal , the publicity-shy billionaire banker from Plano, Tex. who has a penchant for high-stakes poker. Like other smart money men, Beal is leery of asset prices fueled by central bank intervention. So Beal hasn't been making many loans recently and instead has built up a sizable war chest of capital--enough to make more than $20 billion in fresh loans. "There has not been anything to invest in. It's the craziest environment, a world flooded with money," says Beal. "It's hard to sit by and pick your nose when you want to be doing deals." But with West Texas crude prices now down by 50%, to $50 a barrel, and many U.S. oil and gas companies scrambling for cash, Beal has been quietly building an oil and gas lending team at his Texas bank, and though he has yet to close on his first deal, he expects to pull the trigger soon. "We are trying to get real active in the oil patch," … [Read more...] about The Billionaire Banker Ready To Bet On Oil