A few members of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting said the central bank may soon have to consider more asset purchases, while others said the economic outlook would have to deteriorate first.
A few members said economic conditions
The Bank of Japan added to monetary easing after exports tumbled and the economy contracted by more than forecast in the fourth quarter.
Governor Masaaki Shirakawa
In his first 100 days as European Central Bank President, Mario Draghi has taken unprecedented action to tackle the sovereign debt crisis. Greece may push him even further into unknown territory.
Draghi will today face questions on the ECB
The Swiss Competition Commission said Friday it has launched an investigation into possible cartel behavior by a dozen banks including the country’s two biggest institutions UBS and Credit Suisse.
The banks are suspected of colluding to influence key interest rates and the trading conditions for derivatives, the commission said in a statement Friday.
“Specifically, collusion between derivative traders might have influenced the reference rates LIBOR and TIBOR,” it said.
The London Interbank Offered Rate, LIBOR, and the Tokyo Interbank Offered Rate, TIBOR, underlay many commercial interest rates.
The commission said the banks are also suspected of illegally influencing market conditions for derivatives based on these reference rates.
The foreign institutions named in the Swiss probe are Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings PLC, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Rabobank Groep N.V., Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, Societe Generale SA, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.
Competition authorities in the United States and Britain have launched similar investigations.
World stock markets were mixed Wednesday, as a modest improvement in manufacturing data from China offered reassurance over its economic slowdown, though Asian markets fell back from early gains.
Benchmark oil hovered below $99 per barrel while the dollar rose against the euro but fell against the yen.
In early European trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.8 percent to 5,724.91 and Germany’s DAX both rose 1.1 percent at 6,525.76. France’s CAC-40 jumped 1.3 percent to 3,340.45. Wall Street was set to open higher, with Dow Jones industrial futures rising 0.2 percent at 12,607 and S&P 500 futures gaining 0.2 percent at 1,310.40.
A better-than-expected Chinese manufacturing index for January, issued by a government federation, fueled an early rally in most markets across Asia. But that evaporated after the release later in the morning of a competing, seasonally adjusted survey by HSBC suggesting conditions were still deteriorating.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 edged up less than 0.1 percent to close at 8,809.79. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.3 percent to 20,333.37 while Seoul’s Kospi added 0.2 percent to 1,959.24.
By afternoon, shares in mainland China had retreated back into negative territory, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index shedding 1.2 percent to 2,268.08.
“Rumors that pension funds will not be invested in shares have raised worries over inadequate liquidity,” said Cai Dagui, an analyst at Ping’an Securities, based in Shenzhen.
Shares will likely remain unstable as investors await annual earnings reports, he said.
The mixed signals from China compounded uncertainties over its outlook, showing that despite resilient consumer demand exports remain sluggish payday loans with no fax.
Such concerns are especially acute for Australia, whose economy has thrived on exports of coal, iron ore and other commodities to China.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.9 percent to 4,225.70, while India’s Sensex edged 0.1 percent higher to 17,208.68.
Taiwan, Indonesia and New Zealand gained ground, though Singapore declined.
Overnight Tuesday, an unexpected drop in U.S. consumer confidence dragged shares down on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average lost 20.81 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,632.91. The S&P slipped 0.60 point to 1,312.41 while the Nasdaq composite index rose 1.90 points to close at 2,813.84.
Overall, though, U.S. shares had their best start in 15 years, thanks to a modest improvement in the economy. Sentiment was further buoyed by hopes of progress in Europe after leaders there agreed on the broad outlines of a deal to tie the countries that use the euro closer together and on hopes that Greece is close to a debt-reduction deal with private creditors.
Benchmark oil for March delivery gained 38 cents to $98.85 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 30 cents to end at $98.48 per barrel in New York on Tuesday.
In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3070 from $1.3084 late Tuesday in New York. The dollar fell to 76.16 yen from 76.20 yen.
An official at the main airport serving Yemen’s capital says that protesting troops have closed the runways with armored vehicles, demanding that the commander of the country’s air force be replaced.
The garrison at Sanaa airport’s attached military air base is demanding the removal of Maj. Gen. Mohammed Saleh, the brother of outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the official says.
He says the Sunday protest has caused two flights to be diverted to the airport at the southern city of Yemen.
Another official at the airport in the southern city of Taiz says troops there have been staging a similar protest demanding the ouster of their commander since Saturday. Both officials spoke anonymously in accordance with regulations.
Yemen has experienced an 11-month uprising against Saleh’s rule.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde joined world financial and trade organization chiefs in warning policy makers gathering in Davos, Switzerland next week against fiscal cuts that jeopardize growth.
The Federal Reserve on Tuesday drew fire from conservatives for its recent policy proposals on the downtrodden housing sector that the critics argued represented an overreach by the central bank.
Two Republican senators lashed out at the Fed’s “white paper” on housing, which suggested other officials should consider giving failed mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) a bigger role in turning the market around.
The protests mark a rekindling of anti-central bank sentiment that reached fever pitch when the Fed launched its second round of bond buying in late 2010. At that time, conservatives accused the central bank of sowing the seeds for future inflation, though recent trends show price pressures ebbing.
The Fed’s detractors are now reacting to what they see as central bankers chiming in on fiscal policy matters that are not the appropriate realm for monetary authorities.
“I believe that it is important to the interests of the Federal Reserve, including the independence of monetary policy, that the Fed refrain from providing any hint of activism regarding what are clearly fiscal policy choices,” said Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.
“I am sure that the Fed would not appreciate a white paper from Congress outlining how to think about and execute monetary policy,” he said.
Sen. Bob Corker, a member of the Banking Committee, directed his criticism at William Dudley, the influential president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, for his suggestion that principal write-downs be considered for distressed borrowers.
Such criticisms have some resonance among a minority of inflation hawks at the Fed one hour payday loan. Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Plosser and Richmond Fed chief Jeffrey Lacker have both expressed distaste over an earlier effort by the Fed to drive down mortgage costs by buying mortgage-related debt.
At the other end of the spectrum, Dudley and Eric Rosengren of the Boston Fed have said the central bank should consider further purchases of mortgage-backed securities.
An editorial in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday was even more scathing, accusing the central bank of “rank electioneering” for issuing the housing proposal.
Fed officials have argued that, given their broad mandate to achieve solid economic growth, it would be irresponsible for them to ignore housing, which continues to be a major drag on the economic recovery.
Recent indicators have been mixed, pointing to some strength in construction but also a continued decline in home prices that bodes ill for a sustained housing rebound.
When Ben Bernanke first took over as chairman at the central bank in 2006, he vowed to steer clear of the type of fiscal debates that got his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, into trouble.
Greenspan had widely been criticized for giving intellectual cover to tax cuts during President George Bush’s administration.
In a letter to leading lawmakers that accompanied the “white paper” last Wednesday, Bernanke said the Fed had received questions and requests for input and that the policy proposals were being made in the “interest of a continuing dialogue.”
Home prices fell for a fourth straight month in November as distressed sales continued to weigh on prices, data analysis firm CoreLogic said on Monday.
CoreLogic’s (CLGX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) home price index fell 1.4 percent in November from the previous month. Compared with November of last year, prices were down 4.3 percent, steeper than the 3.7 percent year-over-year decline seen in October.
Excluding distressed sales, prices were off just 0.6 percent in November on a yearly basis. Homeowners in danger of foreclosure, or in “distress,” often sell their homes at a significantly reduced price Payday Loan for Bad Credit.
“Distressed sales continue to put downward pressure on prices and is a factor that must be addressed in 2012 for a housing recovery to become a reality,” Mark Fleming, chief economist at CoreLogic, said in a statement.
Of the top 100 statistical areas measured by population, 77 showed year-over-year declines, down from 80 in October.
The Walt Disney Co. said Wednesday that it reached a long-term agreement with the nation’s largest TV signal provider, Comcast Corp., that extends their partnership into the next decade.
The deal covers major pay channels ESPN, Disney Channel and ABC Family and the retransmission of free ABC broadcast network programs through seven ABC TV stations. It allows Comcast subscribers to gain greater access to shows on demand over the Internet on multiple devices.
Terms were not disclosed.
The deal comes as TV distributors and content owners continue to spar over fees to carry programming.
In the New York area, a dispute between Time Warner Cable and The Madison Square Garden Co. has left some cable subscribers without access to Knicks basketball or Rangers hockey games since early in the new year.
Disney and Comcast agreed on the package covering 70 channels or services even though only a few agreements covering ABC Family, Disney Channel and Disney XD had expired at the end of 2011. The companies agreed that a long-term comprehensive deal was in both their interests.
Comcast and Disney called the scope and range of the deal “unprecedented cheap business cards.”
“It reinforces the value of the multichannel subscription and takes full advantage of new technologies, which serve all of our viewers,” said ESPN executive chairman George Bodenheimer in a statement.
The deal incorporates Comcast’s Xfinity TV online suite of programs and gives its 22.4 million video subscribers online access to services such as ESPN3, which offers live feeds of games that are sometimes not on the television network. Comcast subscribers will also be able to watch ABC shows such as “Castle” and “Grey’s Anatomy” on demand, but they won’t have the option of fast-forwarding through commercials.
Comcast also agreed to carry the pay TV channel Disney Junior, a rebranded network focused on children up to age 7 that will replace the SOAPnet channel in February.
Disney shares rose 49 cents to $38.80 in afternoon trading. Comcast shares rose 10 cents to $24.59.