Fed avoids moving markets

The dollar headed south after the fed's decision to continue it's mortgage backed securities purchase program, mainly from the two GSE's, Fannie and Freddie. Only one fed offical reccomended winding the program down at this time. The central bank is keen not to raise interest rates too quickly, but will rather pursue repurchase agreements with primary dealers and other counterparties to mop up extra liquidity. Many parties are worried that this excess liquidity is having larger implications in the near and medium-term than central bankers realize, and that removing government capital from the market any time soon will be a difficult transition.

European Central Bank annual report on international role of the euro

This is the eighth issue of the annual review of the
international role of the euro. It reviews trends
in the use of the euro by non-euro area residents
in global markets and in individual countries
outside the euro area, and aims to deepen the
Eurosystem’s analytical understanding and
statistical coverage of the international use of
the euro.

Philadelphia Fed President on US economy

IMF allocates $250 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to stimulate world economy

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is planning to inject $250 billion into the global economy to bolster countries’ reserves as part of measures to combat the world economic crisis.
The IMF’s Executive Board on July 20 backed an allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) —an IMF reserve asset—equivalent to $250 billion to provide liquidity to the global economic system by supplementing the Fund’s 186 member countries’ foreign exchange reserves.
The equivalent of nearly $100 billion of the new allocation will go to emerging markets and developing countries, of which low-income countries will receive over $18 billion. The proposal will now be submitted to the IMF’s Board of Governors for final approval.

Bloomberg - Bernanke Seeks to Cordon Off Monetary Policy From Lawmakers

By Craig Torres

July 22 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke sought to cordon off the central bank’s independence on monetary policy from congressional scrutiny as lawmakers challenged its authority on everything from currency swaps to emergency loans.

The 55-year-old Fed chairman yesterday stepped up his defense of the central bank as it faces a bill with 275 legislator-sponsors to repeal immunity from audits of monetary policy. Bernanke told the House Financial Services Committee that Fed actions helped avert a credit “collapse,” and gave Congress its own task: cut “unsustainable” budget deficits.

As lawmakers embark on the biggest financial-regulation overhaul in generations, “everything is up for grabs,” including Fed independence, said Christopher Rupkey, chief financial economist in New York at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. It would “open a Pandora’s box” for Congress’s Government Accountability Office to probe monetary policy, he said.

Human Rights Group Campaigns To End Use Of Child Politicians In Africa

Slate - Eliot Spitezer on the regulatory charade

Does it strike you as odd that the American government has invested $115 billion in TARP money alone in Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America, fully 70 percent of their market cap ($164.5 billion, as of March 30), yet we have virtually no say in the management or behavior of these banks? Does it seem even odder that these banks are getting along extremely well with the government regulators who should be picking them apart for having destroyed the economy and financial system?