News
Bloomberg | Fed Dots Ignored as Investors Focus on Yellen’s Message
Investors trying to anticipate Federal Reserve interest-rate policy are ignoring the dots and focusing on Chair Janet Yellen’s words.
Bloomberg | Abenomics Fails to Shake Japan Firms’ Addiction to Cash
Japanese firms boosted their cash stockpile to a record in the first quarter, underlining challenges Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces a year and a half into his drive to reflate the economy.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | Downgrading Growth Again
The Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee on Wednesday stuck to its path of reducing its bond purchases by $10 billion a month, which was no surprise. The news, by now so routine that perhaps it also shouldn't surprise, is that the Fed once again reduced its forecast for economic growth.
Foreign Affairs | Taper Trouble
In April 2013, Ukraine was sporting a massive current account deficit of eight percent, and it badly needed dollars to pay for vital imports. Yet on April 10, President Viktor Yanukovych’s government rejected terms set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $15 billion financial assistance package, choosing instead to continue financing the gap between its domestic production and its much higher consumption by borrowing dollars privately from abroad. So a week later, Kiev issued a ten-year, $1.25 billion eurobond, which cash-flush foreign investors gobbled up at a 7.5 percent yield.
Blogs
WSJ | 5 Takeaways From Fed Decision, Yellen News Conference
The Federal Reserve sharply reduced its outlook for economic growth this year but became seemingly more convinced of the need for interest-rate increases. Janet Yellen, in her second news conference as Fed Chairwoman, said she was optimistic about growth, but emphasized the uncertainty in the Fed’s rosy forecasts for 2015 and beyond.
