2011年9月22日 星期四

“Very Unusual” Fed Action Fails To Boost Animal Spirits: Dow Drops 285

The Fed's latest moves to bring down long-term interest rates will be "marginally helpful," predicts former Fed Governor Mark Olson, now co-chair of Treliant Risk Advisors, a compliance and strategic advisory firm specializing in the financial services industry. "There really isn't a lot of room" left for the Fed to bring down rates.

Specifically, the Fed announced plans to buy $400 billion of long-term Treasuries and sell an equivalent amount by the end of June 2012. The so-called Operation Twist will not change the size of the Fed's balance sheet but the duration of its Treasury holdings. "This program should put downward pressure on longer-term interest rates and help make broader financial conditions more accommodative," the FOMC statement declares.

In addition, the Fed announced plans to reinvest principal payments from its current holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities into agency MBS. In other words, the Fed is going to be buying paper from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac again "to help support conditions in mortgage markets."

Treasury prices did rally in response to the Fed announcement with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note falling to a record low 1.86%, while the yield on the 30-year bond slipped to 3.01%.

If the Fed was trying to lower long-term rates, the action was a success. If the goals was to boost the stock market, the action was a total failure, although perhaps traders focused on Moody's downgrade of Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup vs. the Fed, which did say "there are significant downside risks to the economic outlook, including strains in global financial markets."

Tumbling into the close, the Dow shed 285 points, or 2.5%, while the S&P lost nearly 3% and other so-called risk assets like gold and oil fell sharply as the dollar rose.

Very Unusual

While Operation Twist was widely expected, the MBS announcement was a bit of a surprise, as was the timing of the Fed's announcement, some 10 minutes after its normal 2:15 ET release.

The Fed's failure to meet its (self-imposed) deadline is "very unusual," Olson says, suggesting there was likely some last-minute wrangling over the wording of the release.

Although three Fed governors dissented from Wednesday's policy action — Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher, Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota, and Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser — Olson notes they were the same dissenters at the August meeting "so I don't think that in particular was much of a surprise."

For the record, Olson says he would have voted for Wednesday's action if he were still a voting member of the FOMC.

"I would have because I don't see any downside risk to it," he says. "Should inflationary pressures start to build, it's a circumstance where they can adjust that portfolio just a quickly and reduce the size in a way that won't have long-term negative implications."

But positive implications? That remains very much in doubt.

2011年9月15日 星期四

不動產實價登錄 違者要罰

 更新日期:2011/09/15 13:48
(中央社記者謝佳珍台北15日電)行政院會今天通過平均地權條例與地政士法部分條文修正案,明訂不動產交易採實價登錄,由地政士、買方、不動產經紀業,於辦完所有權移轉登記30天內向主管機關登錄實際成交價。

違反規定,處新台幣3萬元以上、15萬元以下罰鍰,並限期改正;屆期未改正者,按次處罰。

攸關不動產交易實價登錄的「地政三法」中,除「不動產經紀業管理條例」已在上會期送立法院審議,行政院會上午再通過地政士法與平均地權條例部分條文修正草案,將列為優先法案。

行政院長吳敦義在行政院會表示,實價申報登錄的推動,是為落實總統馬英九居住正義的政策,以符合社會期待及改善現行不動產成交案件資訊不對稱的情形。

他說,後續相關配套措施,包括如何受理申報登錄、申報不實的裁罰,以及兼顧個人隱私前提下提供各界查詢或利用等各項事宜,請內政部規劃並預作因應。

行政院會通過的地政士法部分條文修正草案增訂,地政士應在買賣受託案件辦完所有權移轉登記30天內,向主管機關申報登錄土地及建物成交案件實際資訊,並以去除識別化方式提供各界查詢或利用。

平均地權條例部分條文修正草案規定,權利人應於買賣案件辦完所有權移轉登記30天內,向主管機關申報登錄土地及建物成交案件實際資訊。

草案也明訂,買賣案件委託地政士申請登記者,應由地政士申報登錄;委由不動產經紀業居間或代理成交,除規定委託地政士申請登記者外,應由不動產經紀業申報登錄。若未登錄申報,將處罰地政士或不動產經紀業者。1000915

美國FDIC祭新法 大銀行須立「遺囑」

【經濟日報╱編譯余曉惠/綜合外電】
   
2011.09.15 02:52 am


根據美國銀行主管機關聯邦存款保險公司(FDIC)13日通過的規定,規模大到足以破壞美國金融系統的金融機構必須在明年夏天以前提交一項計畫,在破產時能夠有秩序地進行分拆。

FDIC與聯準會(Fed)的聯合規範被稱為銀行「遺囑」,將在去年通過的陶德─法蘭克金改法案中扮演重要角色。FDIC在2008-09年金融危機後採納這項規定,希望業務過於龐雜、且在金融系統占重要地位的金融機構一旦倒閉,收拾爛攤子的工作能變得更有效率,同時不讓傷害擴大。

新規定中適用於非銀行公司與銀行控股公司的條文,限制範圍涵蓋124家公司,當中有90家為外商。這些公司中規模最大者須率先提交計畫。金融機構若持有2,500億美元以上非銀行資產,必須在明年7月1日以前提交計畫,這部份的規定最嚴格。

非銀行資產介於1,000億到2,500億美元的金融機構,2013年7月1日之前也須提交計畫。其餘金融機構的期限為2013年年底。

FDIC在聲明稿中表示:「這項規定旨在記取上次金融危機的重要教訓:龐大且業務複雜的投保存款機構若要有秩序地用最低成本收拾殘局,清算計畫不可或缺。」

【2011/09/15 經濟日報】