European Central Bank

It is a privilege for me to be here in Texas, and I would like to thank the Austin Chamber for hosting this luncheon. The Texas economy is strong and diversified, accounting for more than a trillion dollars of output last year. However, our nation, and Texas too, is being tested by economic and financial challenges. Those challenges and the Federal Reserve's policy responses are the topic of my remarks today.

Federal Reserve Policies during the Crisis
As you know, this extraordinary period of financial turbulence is now well into its second year. Triggered by the contraction of the U.S. housing market that began in 2006 and the associated rise in delinquencies on subprime mortgages, the crisis has become global and is now affecting a wide range of financial institutions, asset classes, and markets. Constraints on credit availability and slumping asset values have in turn helped to generate ...

A meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee was held in the offices of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. and continued on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at 9:00 a.m.
PRESENT:
Mr. Bernanke, Chairman
Mr. Geithner, Vice Chairman
Ms. Duke
Mr. Fisher
Mr. Kohn
Mr. Kroszner
Ms. Pianalto
Mr. Plosser
Mr. Stern
Mr. Warsh

Ms. Cumming, Messrs. Evans, Lacker, and Lockhart, and Ms. Yellen, Alternate Members of the Federal Open Market Committee

Messrs. Bullard, Hoenig, and Rosengren, Presidents of the Federal Reserve Banks of St. Louis, Kansas City, and Boston, respectively

Mr. Madigan, Secretary and Economist
Ms. Danker, Deputy Secretary
Mr. Skidmore, Assistant Secretary
Ms. Smith, Assistant Secretary
Mr. Alvarez, General Counsel
Mr. Baxter, Deputy General Counsel
Mr. Sheets, Economist
Mr. Stockton, Economist


Messrs. Connors, English, and Kamin ...

NEW YORK & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Investors remain unconvinced that a spate of policy measures from governments and central banks can combat global recession, and are retaining defensive positions, according to Merrill Lynch's Survey of Fund Managers for November. The survey shows that four out of five investors believe that the world will continue to experience recession over the coming year. Policy makers have offered fiscal stimulus packages, liquidity and interest rate cuts, but investors are not yet ready to give their policies the benefit of the doubt. Forty percent of the panel still ...

According to a Bloomberg headline ...

Policy Coordination Among Central Banks

I am pleased to be here in Frankfurt today to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the euro. The euro’s introduction was a remarkable achievement. As an academic, I did a bit of consulting for the European Monetary Institute, the European Central Bank’s (ECB) predecessor, on monetary transmission mechanisms; I thus played a part, albeit an extremely small one, in this grand project. I mention this only as a reminder that the creators of the euro drew on monetary expertise from around the world, an early example of the international cooperation that has since proven to be one of the hallmarks of the ECB. Indeed, the run-up to the euro’s establishment and the experience of the past decade have been associated with an unprecedented degree of policy coordination among the sovereign states within the euro area, including cooperation in the areas of fiscal and regulatory ...