The banking crisis: What you actually need to know

Mar 17, 2023
Even if you don’t bank with Silicon Valley Bank or Signature Bank, the fallout from their collapses has probably grabbed your attention.
Given that the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank marked one of the largest bank failures since 2008, it can feel easy to draw comparisons to the start of the Great Recession.
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Fed Chair Jerome Powell has been used the phrase "financial conditions" 29 times in his last three press conferences.
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What something called "supercore inflation" can tell us about the current economy

Mar 15, 2023
It’s a spending category that looks at core services other than housing. The Fed says it could be key to understanding the future of inflation.
Paying for a haircut or hiring a landscaper are all purchases measured in supercore inflation. The price of these services can also be linked to the wages people are paid to do them.
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Want to know which way Fed policy is headed? This quarterly report offers hints

Mar 14, 2023
The Summary of Economic Projections lays out what Fed leaders are thinking.
People wanting to understand the Fed's thinking may want to turn to the body's quarterly Summary of Economic Projections report.
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Former Fed official who oversaw reforms sees "deep irony" after bank collapse

"We've just seen an uptick in moral hazard," Daniel Tarullo says of the U.S. government covering uninsured deposits.
"One of those pillars of Dodd-Frank — which is to let banks fail and people will have the right incentives — we just can't rely on that," said former Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo, seen above in 2014.
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Federal bank regulators are getting most of the attention, but states oversee banks too

Mar 14, 2023
The feds didn’t take possession of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. That was up to state regulators in California and New York.
Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank were state chartered, which is why state regulators stepped in first.
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February's rising unemployment rate is actually a positive sign, economists say

Mar 10, 2023
Growth in the number of people looking for work means the unemployment rate is rising for the right reasons, one economist says.
"People think this is a good time to be searching for a job," said Gus Faucher of PNC Financial Services Group.
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When it comes to inflation, monetary policy might not be getting the job done

Mar 9, 2023
"It's clear there have been some shifts in the economy that just make their policies less effective," says Neil Irwin of Axios.
On Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell appeared before the Senate Banking Committee.
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How much should we trust "seasonally adjusted" numbers these days?

Mar 8, 2023
January was an outlier for jobs, spending and inflation — but can we rely on seasonally adjusted data when the past three Januarys have been so weird?
Did a warm January encourage a surge in consumer spending and inflation? "It’s very hard to explain that all with weather," says Johns Hopkins economist Jonathan Wright.
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The job market cooled in January — that's what the Fed's been hoping for

Mar 8, 2023
There are fewer job openings and fewer people are quitting jobs — signs that the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes are working as intended.
Job openings fell about 49% in construction, according to the recent JOLTS report. There were also fewer openings in accommodation and food services, and in finance and insurance.
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