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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analysts, banking, financial institutions, imf, recession, us economy, wall street, world bank
With Europe's ongoing economic woes threatening to trigger a global economic meltdown, it was not surprising US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's official statement to the International Monetary Fund focused on this topic during the 2011 Annual Meeting of the IMF and World Bank Group in Washington DC. In addition to expressing the need to ensure short term support of the US economy, along with taking steps to lower the US long-term deficits, his most pointed comments were on the situation in Europe, and more particularly the debt crisis of Greece, which he noted was...
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economic crisis, financial institutions, moral hazard, mortgages, new york
While there are many reasons behind the current economic crisis, the term 'moral hazard' has been applied to risky decision making actions by lenders which led to the chaos in large financial institutions, referred to as the US subprime mortgage crisis, or the 2007-2010 financial crisis. It appears that the whole too-big-to-fail mindset may have resulted in extreme leniency when assessing the ability of borrowers to repay their loans – to the detriment of both lenders and borrowers. A number of financial giants took a tumble, with some...
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consumers, dow jones, financial institutions, us economy, wall street
As the month of July drew to a close, Friday saw Wall Street mulling over concerns about the disappointingly slow US economic growth rate, resulting in a day spent in negative territory and a virtually flat finish to the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 10,465.94, being an increase of 0.4 percent for the week, while the S&P500 dropped 0.09 percent to 1,101.60 for the week, but gained 6.9 percent for the month of July. The Nasdaq Composite ended the week at 2,254.70, representing a drop of 0.4 percent. Responding negatively to...
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consumer protection, dodd-frank, federal reserve, financial institutions, wall street
While the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act heads to the Senate after being passed by the House early last week, there are vastly differing opinions on Wall Street as to what is likely to be achieved when the 2,000 page bill goes into effect. It is anticipated that the Senate will vote in mid-July, with President Barak Obama signing it into law soon thereafter.
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competition, financial crisis, financial institutions, regulators
For millions of US citizens the image of the ‘American Dream’ includes a home of their own, and in the past eighteen months or so that has become a thing of the past for many who owned homes, and a seemingly unreachable goal for would-be homeowners. One of the agencies charged with regulating financial institutions who offer US citizens the possibility of owning a home, is the Office of Thrift Supervision. Stated on its website: "The OTS supervises a national thrift industry that is built on the bedrock of the...
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economic sector, financial institutions, institutional investors, sec, securities, united states
Banks, retirement funds, pension funds, mutual funds, hedge funds and insurance companies are some of the financial institutions which pool large sums of money to invest on behalf of others. Referred to as Institutional Investors, these funds are generally subject to more lenient investment regulation because they are deemed by authorities to be experts in their field. This limited regulation comes into play, for example, when Institutional Investors participate in private placements of securities which are not subject to the full might of securities laws. In the United States, private placements may be made...
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banking sector, basel ii, financial institutions, regulators, switzerland
Created in 1974 by the G10 nations, and meeting four times each year, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) consists of representatives from 27 countries who gather to formulate and analyze broad-based standards and guidelines for efficient and transparent banking supervision. The name of the committee is taken from the name of the city in Switzerland that hosts committee meetings. For the recommendations to carry any weight, each member country needs to implement these standards through its national system, and while adjustments may need to be made...
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