In this episode we continue to review the book The Lords of Easy Money by Christopher Leonard. This book is about the Federal Reserve’s actions from 2008-2021.  The author provides the reader a behind the scenes view on the discussions inside the Fed and ultimately, we see how their eventual actions played out in the larger economy. Did the Fed save the day or permanently destroy our economy? In this episode we wrap up chapter 1. This is a multi-part series.   

In this episode we review the book The Lords of Easy Money by Christopher Leonard. This book is about the Federal Reserve’s actions from 2008-2021.  The author provides the reader a behind the scenes view on the discussions inside the Fed and ultimately, we see how their eventual actions played out in the larger economy. Did the Fed save the day or permanently destroy our economy? This is the first in a multi-part series.  

This episode is the second interview with Bob Newman from Chatham Financial. Chatham is a global advisory and technology firm focused exclusively on financial risk management. Chatham has expertise in the debt and derivatives markets. The conversation here is based around an example of a “vanilla” derivative transaction, that can help a bank turn mismatches in assets and liabilities on their balance sheet into matches.

https://www.chathamfinancial.com

This episode provides a weekly update on U.S. banking industry news.

This episode looks at JP Morgan’s plan to increase their overall branch count by 500. They are looking to beef up around certain major cities including Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Charlotte. This is interesting given the current industry trend for the last decade is shuttering branches.

This episode looks at the quarterly Federal Reserve Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices. This survey was just released for January 2024. This survey is very important because it informs on what senior bank executives are seeing in terms of loan demand and tightening or weakening of loan standards (i.e. underwriting) across all loan products (Commercial real estate, residential mortgages, and consumer loans). A link to the survey is provided.

https://www.federalreserve.gov/data/sloos/sloos-202401.htm

This episode examines the roller coaster ride of a week for New York Community Bancorp. NYCB posted a huge loss for the 4th quarter of 2023 due to bad CRE loans, which led to downgrades, a slashing of their dividend, investor lawsuits, and a 70% drop in their stock price!

This episode examines an article from Zero Hedge that breaks down the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) employment report for January of 2024. You will want to watch this to the end because the native vs foreign born workers job creation is a bomb shell! A link to the article is provided.

Inside The Most Ridiculous Jobs Report In Recent History | ZeroHedge

This episode looks at two legal cases that are currently in front of the United States Supreme Court and could have a major impact on Chevron Doctrine, which was established 40 years ago. Chevron Doctrine gives tremendous power to financial regulators and government agencies to interpret laws and create regulations that can be very difficult if not impossible to fight in court. The ruling here could have a big impact on how banks are regulated.

This episode provides a weekly update on U.S. banking industry news.