Un pò di letture per voi sfaticati mentre vado a far la spesa (e a rifare colazione

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More Fed rate hikes seen to keep inflation at bay
Wed Sep 21, 2005 06:39 PM ET By Alister Bull
WASHINGTON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates because it fears inflation more than the harm energy prices will do to growth, economists said on Wednesday.
The Fed raised rates as expected on Tuesday by a quarter percentage point to 3.75 percent and stressed the economic impact from Hurricane Katrina will be temporary while soaring oil prices could fuel inflation.
It also dropped the word "well" from its statement that "longer-term inflation expectations remain contained" and, just as tellingly, repeated its sense that rates remained too low and could be raised at a measured pace.
"The Committee continues to see the removal of accommodation as the focus of policy and has given no indication that it is close to the end of that process," former Fed Board Governor Laurence Meyer and his colleague Brian Sack at Macroeconomic Advisers wrote in a note to clients.
Some in the bond market think the Fed may pause after November or in early 2006.
Fed fund futures swiftly moved to price in another rate hike before December, taking the overnight funds rate to 4 percent.
But they see only a 50 percent chance of another quarter point increase before March. Bond yields on 10-year U.S. government Treasury notes fell somewhat after the Fed move.
However, the Fed meets twice more this year, on Nov. 1 and Dec. 13, and then again on Jan. 31, the final meeting under Chairman Alan Greenspan, who then retires after 18 years at the helm of the U.S. central bank.
If the Fed continues its campaign of quarter-point rate hikes, this would take the federal funds rate to 4.5 percent, allowing Greenspan to hand over to his successor a policy set more forcefully against inflation. Fed watchers say this might appeal to Greenspan.
"You don't want to force the new chairman to open his term by having to make a a 50 basis point rate hike," said Ethan Harris, chief U.S. economist at Lehman Brothers, who sees the Fed hiking to 4.5 percent in January and then stopping.
Not that core U.S. inflation is getting out of hand. The August consumer price index, excluding food and energy, was up 2.1 percent from a year ago, while the overall CPI was up 3.6 percent. But the Fed has to worry about future inflation.
So with unemployment coming down, a certain amount of U.S. productive capacity temporarily constrained by Katrina, and with an estimated $200 billion to be spent on reconstruction, there are plenty of potential sources of inflation out there.
"Given that the Fed views the impact of the hurricane on growth as transitory, and that it remains concerned about inflationary pressures, we expect the (Fed) to continue to tighten steadily at upcoming meetings," said Barclays Capital economists Dean Maki and Christopher Wheeler. They see the funds rate peaking at 4.75 percent in March.
The fact that Fed Governor Mark Olson dissented from the hike indicated the complexity of the decision in the wake of Katrina. But this did not appear to signal a wider split on the Fed, since he is not a monetary policy specialist.
"Unless upcoming speeches indicate that other FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) members are beginning to shift their views, we do not believe Olson's dissent represents the start of a broader movement within the FOMC toward slowing the pace of rate hikes," Barclays wrote in a note to clients.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
Trichet urges reform from Germany, others-paper
Wed Sep 21, 2005 09:00 PM ET
By Stella Dawson
FRANKFURT, Sept 21 (Reuters) - European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet urged determined economic reforms from the next German government as well as other European nations, according to a newspaper interview on Wednesday.
These reforms are essential to raise the growth rate in the 12-nation euro zone, now running just below 2 percent, and to put the global economy on a more solid footing, Trichet said in an interview in the Irish Times.
The ECB president also cited high oil prices as an economic threat that Group of Seven industrialized nations meeting this Friday in Washington need to tackle collectively.
"Oil remains a major risk, just like global imbalances," Trichet was quoted as saying.
The was interview also carried in the Wednesday editions of Le Figaro in France and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in Germany, which had released a preview of his remarks late Tuesday.
In those editions, Trichet said all countries need to do their share in addressing global imbalances, including China and other emerging market countries in Asia through a smooth revaluing of their currencies.
"None of these contributions can be neglected," he said.
For Europe, the G7 has long urged steps to speed up growth by loosening labor and product market rules to make its economy more competitive. Asked what actions he would expect from Germany after its election this weekend, Trichet said his message is the same for all governments.
"Let's be as determined as possible for the necessary structural reforms that will foster more growth and job creation," he said in the Irish Times.
The euro sank this week after Berlin was left struggling to form a new government after no decisive winner emerged from Sunday's national election. Conservative leader Angela Merkel secured a slim lead but German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is also claiming victory, causing a deadlock.
Schroeder had called an early election after support for his modest economic reform agenda faltered. But Germans' half-hearted embrace of Merkel's more radical path, which includes cuts in unemployment programs, is seen as stymieing reform progress in the euro zone's largest economy.
POTENTIAL GROWTH
Pressed on the sluggish pace of growth rate in the euro zone, Trichet said that potential growth for 2005 and 2006 is probably around 1.9 percent, but structural reforms can lift that level back above 2 percent in 2007 or later.
"In this respect productive investment and structural reforms are of the essence. This is why we are strongly calling for reforms," he said.
The ECB president declined to say whether such low potential growth narrowed the output gap quickly and would draw closer the day for ECB monetary tightening.
The ECB must be "totally pragmatic" and assess the data, he said, without tying itself to a single formula for deciding when to alter monetary course.
The ECB has held interest rates steady at 2 percent for over two years now, and slow growth has most economists forecasting no rate tightening until mid-2006.
Growth running above potential, however, could build inflationary pressures sooner, encouraging an earlier hike. But the ECB has estimated GDP will accelerate by only about 1.3 percent this year and around 1.8 percent in 2006, compared with 2.1 percent in 2004.
This long period of super-cheap money in the 12-nation euro zone has led to very high levels of cash and credit growth, stirring further concerns of building inflationary pressures.
Trichet said money supply growth has the ECB on alert.
"It is also telling to see the dynamism of loans to the private sector that is much faster than growth in GDP in value terms. This is one of the reasons why we are in a posture of particular vigilance," he said in the interview.
Cheap mortgages also have heated up the housing markets in some euro zone countries, which Trichet said the ECB is watching closely. Overall this is not alarming, although authorities could help cool the situation, he said.
"There is a case for appropriate national action as possible to calm down the market," he was quoted as saying.
Trichet also reiterated that the central bank has managed to achieve credibility in keeping inflationary expectations under control and as a result can hold rates steady.
"The paradox is that we did not need to move because everybody knew that we could have moved anytime," he said.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.