Update 190: Full Employment Shortages June Jobs Report & the Labor Market The BLS jobs report for the month of June, released last Friday, showed a resumption of net jobs gained — 222,000, up from 138,000 in May. Unemployment came in at 4.4 percent, not far from what economists regard as maximum, or “full,” employment. But …
Update 189/GOP Appropriators’ Gambit DFA Death by a Thousand Policy Riders Just before adjourning for the July 4 recess, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government approved the FY 2018 financial services appropriation bill. The bill would reduce some agency budgets from last year, but keeps SEC at roughly the same level, a pleasant …
Update 188 — Banks Pass Stress Tests; Will the Tests Themselves Be Tested? Last Thursday, the Federal Reserve released its qualitative analysis upon reviewing the Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) stress test results from the week be fore. The analysis is the basis for the Fed’s verdict regarding the capital status of the nation’s 34 banks with …
Update 187: SBC Trilogy on DFA’s Future Three Hearings, Two Views of Reform The three Senate Banking hearings this past month on the relationship between Dodd-Frank (DFA) financial regulation and economic growth offered glimpses into quiet negotiations occurring among Committee members, staff, regulators, industry, and academia. Today, we look at the position-taking and the opening negotiations …
Update 186 — Fin Reg Agency Review: Wrecking Crew for Administrative State? This morning, Chris Giancarlo appeared before the Senate Agriculture Committee for his confirmation hearing to lead the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. At this juncture, the ideological profile of the administration’s nominees and appointees to serve on the financial regulatory agencies is gaining an unmistakeable hue. We …
Update 185 — Ryan, GOP Tax Hopes Still Spring Eternal as Summer Starts This afternoon, Speaker Ryan delivered a widely anticipated speech on tax reform before the National Association of Manufacturers. Ryan maintained that 2017 is the year for comprehensive tax reform based on principles of simplification, territoriality, and permanence. He decried America’s relatively high statutory corporate …
Update 184 — Yellen Stays the Course; The Fed in Search of the New Normal The Fed’s broadly anticipated 25 basis point increase in the Fed funds rate announced this afternoon represents a continuation of its once-a-quarter pace of “normalization policy” implementation. Janet Yellen has adhered to the policy since her installment as Fed Chair …
Update 183: Treas. Report Score: Mnuchin 1, Bannon 0 Systemic Risk Report Due in October The administration’s first Treasury Report on financial regulatory policy was released last night and contained a few surprises. Instead of advocating a Bannonidtic dismantlement of the Dodd-Frank Act (DFA), it left many of the most important and controversial systemic risk components in …
Treas. Report Score: Mnuchin 1, Bannon 0 (Jun. 13) Read More »
Update 182: House Passes CHOICE Act; Ball is in Senate Banking’s Court Now A couple of hours ago, the U.S. House adopted HR 10, Financial CHOICE Act of 2017, by a vote of 233-186 — without a single Democrat — in the opening bid on the most sweeping financial (de)regulatory bill in the 115th Congress. No one expects a bill …
Update 181: House OLA Repeal Vote; Hensarling’s Bid to Reform Dodd-Frank Tomorrow, House Financial Service Chair Jeb Hensarling will get his vote on HR 10 — the Financial CHOICE Act of 2017, a measure to undo much of Dodd-Frank, with little support beyond fellow House Republicans. After heated debate within the party, the GOP last week …
