federal reserve, interest rates, quantitative easing, us economy, wall street
Following a slow start on Wall Street on Wednesday, US stocks rebounded on news that the Federal Reserve intends to keep interest rates low through to late 2014 – an adjustment of its previous indication that rates would be kept low through to mid-2013. The announcement came as the Fed’s two-day policy meeting drew to a close, and by the end of the day the Dow Jones industrial average had gained 83 points, recovering from its loss of 95 points in the morning trading session. The Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 11 points, after having lost 7 points earlier....
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economic data, euro, eurozone, federal reserve, fiscal
In a meeting on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke reportedly revealed to Republican senators that he is concerned about the unresolved European debt problem, noting that a collapse of European markets would be detrimental to the United States. Despite the so-called ‘fiscal plan’ agreed to by Eurozone members last week, Bernanke is not the only influential figure voicing his concern over the ability of European authorities to put their house in order. Britain is not in agreement with the plan, a key point of which is for Eurozone members to contribute an additional €200 billion...
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dow jones, federal reserve, financial institutions, investors, nasdaq, wall street

The first two days of the week saw Wall Street markets declining significantly, with a noteworthy recovery occurring on Wednesday afternoon. The latest policy statement from the Federal Reserve, backed up by positive remarks from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, indicate a commitment from authorities to continue to assist the US economy in its recovery efforts. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed by 178 points, with the S&P 500 rising by 20 points, and the Nasdaq composite surging 33 points, being 1.5 percent, 1.6 percent and 1.3 percent respectively.
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federal reserve, fomc, investors, ipo, quantitative easing, social network
Recent developments on Wall Street included increased initial purchase offer activity with LinkedIn becoming the first tech company since Google to file an IPO. A follow-up analysis of current IPOs by analytics company, Dealogic, noted that 146 companies have filed with regulators waiting for approval to sell shares in the United States in an effort to raise $28.4 billion. However, it has also been revealed that 215 companies have either withdrawn or postponed IPOs to the value of $44.1 billion – going down in US stock market history...
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commerce, eurozone, federal reserve, financial crisis, investors, quantitative easing
Rumors that Greece is likely to default on its enormous debt caused ripples of apprehension around the financial world, resulting in investors selling off stocks, and US markets dropping sharply on Friday. Speculation is rife that the country may very well not get the next installment of bailout funds allocated by the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – at least until the so-called troika is assured that austerity measures in Greece are going to achieve what they have set out to do, reduce the government’s debt. All seventeen...
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debt crisis, economic recovery, federal reserve, insurance, nyse, quantitative easing, wall street
Despite the fury of Hurricane Irene battering New York over the weekend, leaving a trail of destruction, transport systems disrupted and approximately four million people without power, Wall Street plans to operate as usual on Monday. While expecting trading volumes to be light as the week begins, insurance stocks may get more than the usual attention as storm damage claims start to roll in. Companies in the spotlight this week include MetLife (NYSE:MET), Chubb Corporation (NYSE:CB), and Allstate Corporation (NYSE:ALL).
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credit rating, federal reserve, investors, quantitative easing, wall street
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to deliver his keynote speech on Friday at the Kansas City Federal Reserve's annual retreat, and with fears that the economy is heading for a downturn dominating Wall Street, investors are reportedly keen to hear what solutions he may offer. It was this time last year that the Fed offered up a second round of Quantitative Easing, referred to as QE2, as the solution to the economic downturn at the time. This measure was implemented shortly after, but proved...
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commodities, consumers, economists, federal reserve, investors, wall street
Analysts are anticipating volatility on Wall Street in the upcoming week, as investors come to grips with Friday's dismal jobs report which noted that only 54,000 jobs were created in the month of May as compared to April's figure of 232,000. This came as a huge disappointment to economists who have estimated that the economy needs to add around 150,000 jobs each month purely to keep up with population growth. Jobs over and above that figure would be addressing the problem of job losses. While economists were not expecting...
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