The Wall Street Journal: Fed Would Consider Interest-Rate Cuts if Growth Outlook Darkens

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida said the U.S. economy is in good shape but that central bank officials would consider interest-rate cuts should economic data reveal a material risk of a sharper slowdown than they currently expect.

“Let me be very clear that we’re attuned to potential risks to the outlook,” Mr. Clarida said Thursday during a moderated discussion at the Economic Club of New York.

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CNBC: Fed’s Clarida Says No Need for Rate Cuts Unless Economy Weakens

“If the incoming data were to show a persistent shortfall in inflation below our 2 percent objective or were it to indicate that global economic and financial developments present a material downside risk to our baseline outlook, then these are developments that the [Federal Open Market Committee] would take into account in assessing the appropriate stance for monetary policy,” Clarida said during a speech at the Economic Club of New York.

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Bloomberg: Clarida Opens Door to Fed Rate Cut If the Economic Outlook Dims

The Federal Reserve is prepared to ease monetary policy if it sees mounting risk to the U.S. expansion, Vice Chairman Richard Clarida said while stressing the economy is in a "very good place" with unemployment low and inflation muted.

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Wall Street Journal: Fed’s Rosengren Sees No Reason to Change Rate Policy Right Now

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston chief Eric Rosengren said Tuesday he sees no “clarion call” to change central bank interest rate policy right now, in comments that indicated sustained trade tariffs could accelerate a return to the Fed’s 2% inflation target. “I view current policy as slightly accommodative and likely to be consistent with inflation returning to the Fed’s 2% inflation target over time,” Mr. Rosengren said in a speech at the Economic Club of New York. 

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Reuters: Fed's Rosengren Sees 'No Clarion Call' to Shift U.S. Interest Rates

Cool inflation and a hot jobs market are putting the Federal Reserve’s policy goals at odds, but there is “no clarion call” to push interest rates either way as trade risks lurk, a top policymaker said on Tuesday. “Today, the two elements of the Fed’s mandate are sending opposing signals for monetary policy, with low unemployment perhaps suggesting a bit tighter policy, and low inflation the opposite,” Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said in remarks prepared for delivery to the Economic Club of New York.

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MarketWatch: Boston Fed's Rosengren Sees ‘No Clarion Call’ for Interest-Rate Hike Soon

The head of the Boston Federal Reserve said he sees “no clarion call” to raise interest rates any time soon, suggesting the central bank’s hands-off approach could help counter the risk of dangerously low inflation. Eric Rosengren, president of the Boston Fed, said mixed economic signals and a festering trade dispute with China means “the Fed can afford to wait and see” before it takes any action. Earlier this year the Fed tabled previous plans to raise interest rates again in 2019.

Rosengren is not a voting member of the Fed board that sets a key U.S. interest rate, but his remarks in a speech on Tuesday to the Economic Club of New York echo recent comments by other senior Fed officials.

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Bloomberg: Mastercard CEO Says It’s Not the Company’s Place to Limit Gun Sales

Mastercard Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ajay Banga said it’s not his company’s place to put limits on firearm sales. In fact, it doesn’t even have the information it needs to stop such purchases.

“I actually don’t know whether you’re buying a gun or a diaper in a store,” Banga said at an Economic Club of New York event on Tuesday, adding that Mastercard doesn’t receive information on individual items purchased at a retailer. It would be difficult for Mastercard “to turn off the acceptance of payments at a Walmart that sells bullets and diapers. I don’t know how to do it -- I actually don’t know how to do it.”

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The Economic Club of New York Hosts 500th Signature Event
Welcomes New Board Member John Williams

The Economic Club of New York (ECNY) will celebrate its 500th signature event on Wednesday, March 6, 2019. The guest of honor will be John Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, speaking on “The Economic Outlook: The ‘New Normal’ Is Now.” In the 112 years since its 1907 inception, ECNY has hosted hundreds of luminaries, from business executives to world leaders to sitting U.S. Presidents to top academics, for important discussions on the day’s most pressing topics. Williams will join an impressive list of speakers, which includes many of his current and former Federal Reserve colleagues. 

“We are proud of our Club’s history in providing a platform for civil debate and discussion around the economic and political issues that directly affect the domestic and global economies,” said Marie-Josée Kravis, ECNY Chair and Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute. “We aim to continue in that tradition for at least another 100 years, highlighting different perspectives on the challenges and opportunities we face in this age of globalization and rapid technological advancement.” 

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CNBC: Jamie Dimon Says a Hard Brexit Would be a ‘Disaster’ for the UK

J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Wednesday that it would be in the United Kingdom’s best interest to avoid a hard exit from the European Union. “I think a hard Brexit will be a disaster for Great Britain,” Dimon said at the Economic Club of New York. “We don’t think it will happen because it’s bad for Europe too.” A hard Brexit refers to the U.K. leaving the EU without access to the bloc’s single market and customs union.

Financial Times: Shutdown Could Drive US Growth to Zero, Warns JPMorgan Chief

The record-long US government shutdown could drive economic growth down to zero in the current quarter, JPMorgan Chase’s chief executive said on Tuesday, as big companies amplify their warnings over the mounting damage from the stand-off. US companies are becoming increasingly worried about the entrenched funding dispute at the heart of Washington as the tussle over Donald Trump’s proposed border wall keeps a quarter of the federal government closed.

MarketWatch: Dimon says U.S. Relationship with China will be its Most Important Over Next 100 Years

Wall Street’s longest-serving bank CEO on Wednesday said he thinks the consumer and the economy are in good shape and that the U.S.’s relationship with China remains a vital one.

Speaking at the Economic Club of New York at midday, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, +0.03% said the relationship with China is “going to be the most important” over the course of “the next 100 years.”

Wall Street Journal: Fed Chairman’s Remarks Spark Market Rally

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged more than 600 points Wednesday, erasing its November tumble, after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell eased investor worries about an aggressive increase in interest rates.

In remarks Wednesday before the Economic Club of New York, Mr. Powell said interest rates are “just below” broad estimates of a neutral level—a setting designed to neither speed nor slow economic growth.


Bloomberg: Powell Says Fed Doesn't Have Preset Policy Path, Impact of Hikes Uncertain

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell comments on the path of monetary policy during a speech at the Economic Club of New York. (video)


Reuters: Fed's Powell, in apparent dovish shift, says rates near neutral

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell injected investors with a strong dose of optimism on Wednesday, saying that the central bank’s policy rate is now “just below” estimates of a level that neither brakes nor boosts a healthy U.S. economy, comments that many investors read as signaling the Fed’s three-year tightening cycle is drawing to a close.

“We know that things often turn out to be quite different from even the most careful forecasts,” Powell said at an Economic Club of New York luncheon on Wednesday. “Our gradual pace of raising interest rates has been an exercise in balancing risks.”


The New York Times: Deal Book Briefing: The Fed’s  Chair Sent the Markets Soaring

The Fed chairman brought smiles to trading floors yesterday with a speech at the Economic Club of New York.
 
He needed only two words. Mr. Powell said that the Fed’s benchmark interest rate was “just below” the neutral level. Investors took that to mean that the central bank would stop raising rates soon.

That sparked a market rally. Stocks soared 2.3 percent, erasing the losses from a rocky November. (Investors may have also noticed that the bond market has signaled that the case for interest rate rises is weakening.)
 

New York Times: Adam Silver Can See That You Are Angry, and He Is Here for It

If you decide to assemble your N.B.A. hate-tweets into a real-life email to Commissioner Adam Silver, do not be surprised if he writes you back.

Speaking to a gathering of the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday, Silver said that he tries to engage directly with fans angry about his decisions. “Whether people said it online or wrote me letters directly saying ‘I will never be a fan of your game again because you have made that decision,’ my reaction was to try and engage with them,” Silver said.

“People are often surprised to hear back from me. I think the mistake would be in this day and age to say, ‘I know I am right.’ ”

Business Insider: Commissioner Adam Silver is 'very confident' the NBA will hire the first female head coach in major men's professional sports

Silver spoke to MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle at the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday about his expectation that the NBA will have a woman head coach soon. According to Kevin Draper of the New York Times, Silver hopes that the NBA will become the first major professional men's sports league in the United States to employ a female head coach.

"We are very focused on a woman being a head coach in our league," Silver said, per the New York Times. "I am very confident it is going to happen at some point."
 

CNN: Does the oil meltdown signal economic trouble ahead?

Crude oil's sudden meltdown could be nothing to worry about. Or it could be a sign that the world economy is sick.The abrupt bear market in oil prices may have been sparked by a sharp drop-off in demand for energy, which powers the economy. 

Investors were similarly spooked by oil's last major selloff, in late 2015 and early 2016. That dive to $26 a barrel led some to fear an imminent recession. That proved to be a false alarm.

"There are shades of this that remind me of the latter part of 2015," Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat said on Wednesday."The question today is: Is oil again pretending to be that canary in the coal mine around slower global growth?" Corbat said while speaking at the Economic Club of New York. "Because if you look at supply-demand figures, nothing at all has materially changed in the last week or two."


American Banker: 'There is likely to be some pain': Citi’s Corbat on nonbank lending

Speaking at an event in New York, Corbat said that U.S. companies are mostly in good financial shape, thanks in large part to the corporate tax cuts, which left them flush with cash and in a better position to pay off debt. Still, hedge funds and other nonbank firms have recently increased lending to risky companies — and they could be hurt by problem loans if the economy takes a turn for the worse.
 

American Banker: Plastic cards will be gone in five years: Synchrony CEO

The days of swiping plastic are rapidly coming to an end. That’s according to Margaret Keane, president and CEO of Synchrony Financial, the industry's largest issuer of store cards, who said during a public appearance Tuesday that she expects credit cards to go by the wayside as soon as five years from now. Asked whether she thought plastic cards would meet their demise within the next decade, Keane said she expects the transition to occur much faster than that. “It’s going to happen soon.

New York Times: U.S. Fed Is Raising Rates for Good Reasons, BoE's Carney Says

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said on Friday he thought the U.S. Federal Reserve was raising interest rates for good reasons, based on the strength of the U.S. economy.

"They're on the path they're on for fundamentally good, positive reasons," Carney said as he answered questions following a speech at the Economic Club of New York.
 

Bloomberg: Fed's Quarles Favors Gradual Hikes, Eye on Potential Growth

Federal Reserve Governor Randal Quarles said he favors gradual interest-rate increases and voiced optimism that the U.S. economy might be able to grow faster without overheating -- potentially meriting a slower hiking path ahead.

In remarks Thursday to the Economic Club of New York, he suggested that a tick up in the economy’s potential growth rate, if realized, could warrant a slower pace of rate hikes than would otherwise be appropriate.
 

GeekWire: Should Google be regulated? Expedia’s Barry Diller says yes, to stop competition with advertisers

Add one more voice to calls for regulation of Google: Barry Diller, chairman and senior executive of Expedia Group.Diller, interviewed by CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin during an event at the Economic Club of New York, was asked how he felt about the large technology companies. Diller, who holds the titles of chairman and senior executive for both Expedia and IAC, immediately responded that Facebook and Google “own, basically, advertising business worldwide.”

Wall Street Journal: Fed's Kaplan Voices Support For Three More Rate Increases
 
Reuters: Rising yields suggests 'conflicting factors' over U.S. growth: Fed's Kaplan

Business Insider: The CEO of Merck has an ominous warning for the middlemen who stand between drug makers and patients
 

Reuters: Trump Economic Adviser Says U.S. Wants Serious Trade Talks With China
Rolling Stone: Remember When Republicans Called the Deficit ‘Immoral’?
 
Wall Street Journal: Trump Adviser Kudlow Blames Deficits on Spending, Not Tax Cuts

Bloomberg (video): Goldman's Blankfein Talks Trade, Credit Markets and Bitcoin 

Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., sits down with Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait to discuss U.S. trade policy, the state of credit markets and his views on cryptocurrencies. They speak at the Economic Club of New York. (Source: Bloomberg)

Bloomberg: Larry Summers Says His ‘Secular Stagnation’ Thesis Is Catching On

The Harvard economist cites signs that people are buying into the concept, despite what looks like healthy economic growth.

Reuters: Canada's Trudeau Says Feeling Positive About NAFTA Talks

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday said he felt positive about talks to update the NAFTA trade pact, which U.S. officials say need to be wrapped up very quickly for the current Congress to vote on a final text.

Reuters UK: Risks Growing That Could Alter ECB's Tightening Plan - Villeroy

The European Central Bank would have to alter its march toward a more normal policy stance if growing risks from protectionism, exchange rates or market swings end up depressing inflation, ECB policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Wednesday.