Equities gained as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said officials stand ready to act as the euro region’s growth outlook worsens. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta PresidentDennis Lockhart said extending Operation Twist, the program to lengthen maturities of debt on the central bank’s balance sheet, is an “option on the table.”
The Fed said in its Beige Book survey of business conditions today that the U.S. economy maintained a moderate pace of growth as factory output rose and the real-estate market improved. The report gives central bankers anecdotal evidence on the state of the world’s largest economy two weeks before they meet in Washington.
“There’s always hope that some magic tool would be found,” said Ron Florance, managing director of investment strategy for Wells Fargo Private Bank. His firm manages $169 billion. “There’s no sense of any economic recovery on the near-term horizon for Europe. I would be surprised if the Federal Reserve isn’t already having a contingency plan if everything unravels in Europe.”
Helicopter Ben has a plan to save Europe. At least, that's the rumor. Of course, I'm thinking anything the Fed might try to do will run face first in the GOP doing everything they can to destroy the economy in order to win, and that's going to be an ugly battle here on Capitol Hill. Anything remotely looking like "stimulus" comes across from Ben's office, it will be war.
And I'm pretty sure the losers in that war will be your average Americans.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment