-- Posted Thursday, 16 August 2007 | Digg This Article
Adrian Ash
BullionVault
Thursday, 16 August
ONLY A "CALAMITY" would justify an interest-rate cut now, says St. Louis Federal Reserve chief William Poole.
In which case, he either liquidated his personal stock investments before June...or the guy's got some real hide.
"The daily effective federal funds rate is a volume-weighted average of rates on trades arranged by major brokers," says the New York Fed. And as you can, it's slipped sharply below target...closer to the current yield on 10-year Treasuries, in fact.
So why does the US central bank insist in lending fresh cash to the money markets through its open-market operations? The Fed's put in $76 billion over the last week, ostensibly to keep the Fed funds rate on target by making money more readily available.
Some $24 billion of that liquidity is still outstanding right now (as of 9:45 EST, Thurs 16 Aug.), with the latest $5 billion being auctioned for a repurchase agreement just ahead of today's open.
Does that make it a calamity yet?
Adrian Ash
BullionVault
Gold price chart, no delay | Free Report: 5 Myths of the Gold Market
City correspondent for The Daily Reckoning in London and a regular contributor to MoneyWeek magazine, Adrian Ash is the editor of Gold News and head of research at BullionVault – where you can buy gold today vaulted in Zurich on $3 spreads and 0.8% dealing fees.
(c) BullionVault 2007
Please Note: This article is to inform your thinking, not lead it. Only you can decide the best place for your money, and any decision you make will put your money at risk. Information or data included here may have already been overtaken by events – and must be verified elsewhere – should you choose to act on it.
-- Posted Thursday, 16 August 2007 | Digg This Article
