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The government has entered into shutdown for the first time in 17 years. As a result, regular economic data releases put out by the Department of Labor and the Commerce Department — for example, the monthly nonfarm payrolls report — won't be

You can use the terms trader and investor interchangeably on this one... What I like best about the Larry Benedict chapter in Jack Schwager's Hedge Fund Market Wizards book is that it opens with a story about repeated failure. Before becoming the

Never let a crisis go to waste, says an old rule of politics. For some major players in the economy, the financial crisis that began five years ago this month with Lehman Bros.' collapse turned out to be as much an opportunity as a calamity. Although

An anticipated reduction in stimulus by the Federal Reserve that has roiled the financial markets for months will be seen as no big deal if it goes ahead next week, according to a Bloomberg Global Poll of investors. Fifty-seven percent of those

The Federal Reserve convenes for a highly anticipated meeting to make a decision about QE tapering. There is a a very high probability that the Fed will announce a reduction in the pace of bond buying on September 18th, and probably by $10-15 billion

Traders are betting the Federal Reserve will keep policy easier for longer now that former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers is out of the running to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the U.S. central bank. Summers, a former top aide to President

The July statement from the FOMC presented the following snapshot of the economy, "Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in June suggests that economic activity expanded at a modest pace during the first half of the year

The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that it would continue buying bonds at an $85 billion monthly pace for now, surprising financial markets that were braced for a reduction in the central bank's economic stimulus. Citing strains in the

Ben S. Bernanke reinforced his standing as the most activist Federal Reserve chairman in history by doing the unexpected: nothing. The policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee yesterday refrained from reducing the $85 billion pace of its monthly

Euro zone money market rates fell to six-week lows on Thursday after the Federal Reserve unexpectedly stuck to its $85 billion-a-month stimulus program, easing pressure on the European Central Bank to relax policy. The Fed's shock decision on

JPMorgan Chase & Co. will pay $920 million and has admitted that it failed to oversee trading that led to a $6 billion loss and renewed worries about serious risk-taking by major banks. U.S. and U.K. regulators said Thursday that the largest U.S

The Federal Reserve's unexpected decision to keep its bond-buying program intact gives central banks in Europe more time to nurture still-fragile economic recoveries. Central banks in developing countries will face less pressure to raise interest

As we wrap up a most interesting, and volatile, week there are some things that I have discussed previously that are now brewing, interesting points to consider and risks to be aware of. In this regard I thought I would share a few things that caught

The FOMC shocked markets by deciding not to slow its large-scale asset purchase program, after all the signals it had sent out in previous months that it would do so. While increasing policy risk, JPMorgan notes, this puts the asset-reflation trades

The biggest news for the economy that may come this week isn’t even on the docket yet. That would be, of course, the nomination of the next chairman of the Federal Reserve. With Larry Summers having removed himself from consideration, most observers

Following the crisis in October 2008, Iceland's government declared all deposits in domestic financial institutions were 'blanket' guaranteed - an Emergency Act that was reafrmed twice since. However, according to RUV, the finance minister is

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays Plc, Credit Suisse Group AG and 10 other international lenders were sued by a U.S. credit union regulator alleging they illegally manipulated benchmark Libor interest rates. The National Credit Union Administration, an

In the wake of an unusual trading pattern after the Federal Reserve's decision to continue economic stimulus last week, Fed officials have contacted certain news organizations to discuss rules and procedures for the central bank's advance release of

Bank of America Corp's Countrywide unit placed profits over quality in a "massive fraud" selling shoddy mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a U.S. government lawyer said on Tuesday. The claim came at the start of the first case by the government

The MacArthur Foundation gave out its latest batch of "genius grants" yesterday, recognizing "exceptional creativity in their work and the prospect for still more in the future." One of the winners is a CalTech economist most famous for calling