Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Nov. 3, 2010. Wall Street swung to gain on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced a plan to buy 600 billion U.S. dollars more in Treasury bonds. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)
U.S. Federal Reserve announced Wednesday it will buy 600 billion dollars more in Treasury bonds, in a move known as the "Quantitative Easing" (QE2) monetary policy to boost the sluggish economic growth.
"The pace of recovery in output and employment continues to be slow," the Fed said in a statement after the policymaking panel meeting.
Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the interest rate policy making body of the central bank said that it will "purchase a further 600 billion dollars of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of the second quarter of 2011, a pace of about 75 billion dollars per month."
The Fed also decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at historic low level of zero to 0.25 percent to stimulate the economic recovery.
The central bank cut the interest rate to the current level in December 2008 to tackle the worst recession after the Great Depression in the 1930s. And it has already bought about 1.7 trillion dollars in U.S. government debt and mortgage-linked bonds.
With the U.S. economy growth at only a 2 percent annual pace in the third quarter of this year and the jobless rate seemingly stuck around 9.6 percent, the Fed has come under pressure to do more to stimulate business activity.
Bernanke and his supporters argue that the Fed is failing in both fronts of its dual mandate: sustainable levels of unemployment and inflation.
The Dow Jones index is seen in the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Nov. 3, 2010. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)
The Fed said that to expand its holding of government securities is "to promote a stronger pace of economic recovery and to help ensure that inflation, over time, is at levels consistent with its mandate."
Latest data showed that core consumer price index, the key figure to measure inflation, grew only 0.8 percent in September on a yearly base. It was lower than the Fed's comfortable level of inflation ranging from 1.5 percent to 2.0 percent.
In fact, the Fed expressed its concern about deflation in recent documents.
On the unemployment front, with 14.8 million Americans unemployed and unemployment rate hovering at double digit, the Fed has been facing criticism.
Aiming at further lowering borrowing costs for consumers and businesses that are still suffering from the worst recession since the Great Depression, the Fed's QE2 policy is widely questioned.
Many economists doubt about the policy's effectiveness and worry about its spillover effect on the rest of the world.
"The Federal Reserve's proposed policy of quantitative easing is a dangerous gamble with only a small potential upside benefit and substantial risks of creating asset bubbles that could destabilize the global economy," Harvard University economist Martin Feldstein said an article published by the Financial Times on Wednesday.
"Although the U.S. economy is weak and the outlook uncertain, QE is not the right remedy," said the former president of the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research and former chief economic adviser to President Ronald Reagan.
Critics of the policy also argue that although the recovery is painfully slow, markets should be allowed to do their work. They also worry that if the policy fails the Fed's credibility will be wrecked.
Economists consider that economic growth must reach about three percent for some time to significantly reduce high unemployment.
But more than a year after the recession officially ended, unemployment stubbornly stands at high level.
Economists expect that October's jobless rate, which will be reported on Friday, will remain at 9.6 percent for the third straight month.
Source: Xinhua
Dollar tumbles on Fed's stimulus plan
Dollar tumbles on Fed's stimulus plan
The U.S. dollar tumbled against major currencies in late New York trading on Thursday after the Fed announced a new round of quantitative easing policy on Wednesday.
The euro rose to above 1.42 against the dollar in late trading session, while the Australian dollar rose dramatically to near 1. 015 against the dollar, its 28-year high, after the Australian central bank announced that it will raise its benchmark rate this week.
The stock market surged as investors anticipated large amount of money would flow into real economy by the Fed's move. The reviving optimistic mood in equity market also pressured on the dollar as high-yield investment appeared to be more attractive to investors.
However, the U.S. employment status still showed weakness. A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 457,000 last week, which was much more than previous estimate of increasing by 9,000. In late Thursday trading, the dollar bought 80.66 Japanese yen, compared with 81.29 late Wednesday, and the euro rose to 1.4209 dollars from 1.4103.
The British pound rose to 1.6284 dollars from 1.6107. The dollar fell from 0.9730 to 0.9583 against Swiss francs, and also fell to 1.0034 Canadian dollars from 1.0059.
Source: Xinhua
The euro rose to above 1.42 against the dollar in late trading session, while the Australian dollar rose dramatically to near 1. 015 against the dollar, its 28-year high, after the Australian central bank announced that it will raise its benchmark rate this week.
The stock market surged as investors anticipated large amount of money would flow into real economy by the Fed's move. The reviving optimistic mood in equity market also pressured on the dollar as high-yield investment appeared to be more attractive to investors.
However, the U.S. employment status still showed weakness. A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 457,000 last week, which was much more than previous estimate of increasing by 9,000. In late Thursday trading, the dollar bought 80.66 Japanese yen, compared with 81.29 late Wednesday, and the euro rose to 1.4209 dollars from 1.4103.
The British pound rose to 1.6284 dollars from 1.6107. The dollar fell from 0.9730 to 0.9583 against Swiss francs, and also fell to 1.0034 Canadian dollars from 1.0059.
Source: Xinhua
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In other words, US is now printing more papers money in order to buy 600 billion dollars government bonds, a risky move that would effectively devalue the US dollar to gain competitive advantages, similar to the tactic used by the third world, i.e. competitive currency devaluation. Such competitive currency devaluation is a currency manipulation as it would make other currency values higher and less competitive, particularly Chinese Yuan, and GBP,Euro,Yen, A$, RM, etc. Therefore, it is USA, a currency manipulator,not China.
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Competitive advantage through currency devaluation is a zero sum game. This is because the devalued currency gets cheaper price for more exports, high price/high cost to pay for imports and less purchasing power.
ReplyDeleteUS dollar is tumbled, of course, as more paper money is printed for borrowing from the people and the government spent it to maintain military superpower. These are acts of a bankrupt nation resorted to the powerful military actions robbing others as witnessed in history.
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