| Federal Reserve Leaves Rates Unchanged Once Again
(RTTNews) - As expected, the U.S. Federal Reserve once again left its key interest rate unchanged on Tuesday. The central bank also acknowledged an increased risk of an economic slowdown, though it continued to identify inflation as the biggest risk to the economy. At its regularly scheduled meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee, the policy-making arm of the U.S. central bank, announced that it has decided to keep its target for the federal funds rate at 5.25%. This marked the ninth consecutive meeting at which the Fed left its benchmark rate unchanged. The central bank's last policy move took place in late June of 2006, when it announced the last in its series of 17 quarter-percentage point rate hikes. In the policy statement that accompanied the rate announcement, the Fed noted some of the recent conditions that have weighed on the economy, including the well-publicized troubles in the mortgage market.
Fed leaves key interest rate untouched
The U.S. Federal Reserve left a key interest rate unchanged yesterday as worries about inflation trumped concerns about turbulent financial markets.
Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues voted unanimously to keep their target for the U.S. funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other, at 5.25 per cent, where it has been for more than a year.
The Fed decision came after a volatile couple of weeks on Wall Street as investors have been beset by troubles in global credit markets stemming from a sharp rise in defaults on subprime mortgages.
In a brief statement, the Fed acknowledged the turbulence and said the downside risks to the economy had "increased somewhat."
But the Fed continued to state that the predominant risk remained that inflation "will fail to moderate as expected."
Many analysts believe the Fed will remain on hold through the rest of this year, preferring to watch and make sure that inflation moderates back to an acceptable level.
"Dollarization" buys optimism, little else
U.S. dollars can buy anything and everything in the sprawling Central Market here: steaming tortillas, live ducks, bootleg liquor, love potions — even a hit man if you know whom to ask. This Central American nation adopted the greenback as its official currency in 2001, thinking the move would spur economic growth. But the ubiquitous "$" sign on shoe racks and vegetable bins hasn't been the magic elixir many had hoped. And it's been a particular disappointment among low-income shoppers and vendors. Potato peddler Jessica Janette said she used to sell 100 pounds of spuds daily from the pile in her stall. Now she's lucky to move that much a week. The switch from El Salvador's former currency, the colon, to the dollar drove up prices of many staples as producers and merchants rounded up to the nearest nickel, dime or quarter.
U.S. Federal Reserve leaves rate steady; no sign of future cut
The Federal Reserve Tuesday largely sidestepped the growing anxiety over how tightening credit standards will affect the economy, deciding to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 5.25 percent. More important than the decision to hold rates steady — which was widely expected — the Fed did not significantly adjust the language in its statement explaining the decision. Many on Wall Street expected the recent tumult in credit markets to prompt the Federal Open Market Committee to shift its focus from vigilance against inflation to the possibility of an economic downturn. Such a move would open the door for the Fed to lower interest rates in the future — something many investors have been hoping for since the Fed stopped raising rates last summer. Although it acknowledged the recent problems, its central message was unchanged.
NewPage Announces Second Quarter 2007 Financial Results
NewPage Corporation today announced its financial results of operations for the second quarter of 2007. Net sales were $495 million in the second quarter of 2007 compared to $490 million in the second quarter of 2006, an increase of 1.0%. The increase was driven by favorable price and volume for pulp and uncoated paper, partially offset by market softness for coated paper. The company's weighted-average selling price for coated paper was $876 per ton in the second quarter of 2007, down from $894 per ton in the second quarter of 2006, and coated paper sales volumes in the second quarter of 2007 were 517,000 tons compared to 522,000 tons in the second quarter of 2006. The company did not take any market- related downtime for coated paper in the second quarter of 2007 or 2006. .
Why global cues?
The phrase 'global cues' is a way of explaining the positive/negative effect of events in other markets on Indian stocks. Global cues have an impact on Indian stocks because of two factors. First, India's financial markets and its economy have developed greater linkages with the rest of the world, as companies trade, expand their operations, acquire and borrow actively overseas. Second, there has emerged a large class of global institutions and funds that dabble in and actively switch money between stocks, bonds and currencies from across the world. Such investors today play a key role in stock market movements. As equity markets in Europe and the US mature, those seeking higher returns on their investments have made a beeline towards the emerging markets, India included.
Watch that credit score! It could end up costing a lot
Not paying attention to your credit score can cost you a lot of money. Many people don't know that their score -- a three-digit number derived from an analysis of how they handle debt -- is the key determinant of what interest rate they'll pay on credit cards, auto loans and home mortgages. The lower a person's score is, the higher the interest rate and, therefore, the higher the cost for the loan. A new study by the Consumer Federation of America and Washington Mutual Inc., the Seattle-based savings bank, found that fewer than six out of 10 Americans have obtained their credit scores, and half of those surveyed consider their understanding of the scores as "fair" or "poor." Stephen Brobeck, executive director of the nonprofit CFA, which is based in Washington, D.C., said he found the statistics disturbing because consumers can't work to improve their scores if they don't know what the scores are.
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