US & World News

On Friday a new conditional easing of U.S. monetary policy to a deterioration in economic conditions in the U.S., the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, has tried to appease the "hawks" who favor the Fed the fight against inflation, in order to rally them to his latest position.

This attitude may make it possible to Ben Bernanke to have the support of the Fed in cases of substantial worsening of the U.S. economic slowdown.

"The statistics should convince the most timid members (of the monetary policy committee of the Fed)," said Julia Coronado, senior economist at BNP Paribas.

When the Fed's annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Bernanke has compiled a table Friday gloomy economic outlook and reiterated the tools available to the central bank to stimulate the recovery.

The statements of the successor to Alan Greenspan, however, were more nuanced than those of the central bank on Aug. 10 after its last meeting, which had resulted in new measures to support the economy and credit.

The main decision that day, namely the resumption of redemptions of government bonds in the long term (Treasuries) without further inflate the stock of the central bank, has been widely discussed within the institution.

Some members of the Monetary Policy Committee considered that this decision would give the market the impression that the Fed was closer to a new monetary easing significant than it actually was.

ASSESSING THE RISKS OF A NEW FLEXIBILITY

Leaders of the Federal Reserve also wonder if the recent weakening of the U.S. economy is not just a slump before further acceleration of growth, instead of viewing it as a warning about the ability of growth support job creation.

Purchases of "Treasuries and have sent the wrong signal to the markets, while some criticized the swelling of the institution's balance sheet, increased by more than half since the beginning of the financial crisis in late 2008, to 2,300 billion (1,809 billion euros).

The statements by Ben Bernanke Friday were therefore able to reassure some of the skeptics.

While acknowledging the slowdown in the economy, the Fed chairman said that the conditions for a recovery in growth next year seemed satisfied.

"The president did not prepare the country to a recession" double dip ", stated Dana Saporta, Credit Suisse.

Ben Bernanke also acknowledged that it was difficult to assess the real impact of increased purchases of Treasuries and a lowering of interest rates, already extremely low, which the Fed pays banks for their cash have limited effects.

He also explained that one of the factors on which the Fed will base future decisions would be a further slowdown in inflation, already low, which increases the risks of deflation.

For some economists, the pace of recovery has slowed U.S. and statements from Ben Bernanke augur further action by the Fed in the months ahead.

"The general tone was to 'wait and see', despite showing signs of being not only that economic activity in the United States has returned below its potential growth but also to risk a further slowdown," wrote January Hatzius, an economist at Goldman Sachs in a note.

In outlining the conditions under which the Fed could decide new measures to prevent a relapse into recession, Ben Bernanke has probably facilitated the meeting a consensus around him on the FOMC.

Crude prices have come down on Wednesday after the announcement of an unexpected rise in crude inventories in the U.S. and very cautious statements of the President of the U.S. Federal Reserve on the economic situation.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude for delivery in September ended a decline of $ 1.02, or 1.31%, to 76.56 dollars a barrel.

U.S. crude reserves rose 400,000 barrels last week, when economists expected a drop instead of 1.4 million barrels.

In addition, the chairman of the Fed Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that the Fed was ready to take additional measures as necessary to sustain growth given the high level of uncertainty.

JPMorgan Chase reported better than expected results in the second quarter with a decline in provision for credit losses, something that gives hope to investors that things return to normal in the bank.

However, the action declined substantially over 2% as investors aggrieved by his assessment of economic conditions.The KBW bank index was weakening even more, 2.45%.

Moreover, the bulk of quarterly earnings from revenue sources that are not stable, such as reduced bad debt provisions, while in some segments, like the conventional mortgage, there are more and more bad debt, which bodes ill for banks such as Citigroup and Bank of America, which publishes Friday.

Income trading at JPMorgan has declined but it is better than expected, which is perhaps a positive sign for banks such as Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley, who announce their quarterly results next week.

"The results are just adequate and there is a little less than it seems," said Doug Kass (Seabreeze Partners Management).

The outstanding loans of the bank has continued to decline, showing it is reluctant to risk new loans yet.She says she can not yet assess how the reform of financial regulation will affect its accounts, information, precisely, investors were waiting impatiently.

ONE LESS OPTIMISTIC DG

The CEO Jamie Dimon appeared less optimistic about the future than it was in the first quarter, when he said that the economic recovery of the United States could be solid.

"It is too early to measure the improvement that we observe from now" in the consumer credit, which yields "are unacceptable", he has merely stated Thursday.

"We do not know what will happen to house prices and we believe we are not alone," he later told analysts.

The bank reported a net profit of 4.8 billion dollars (3.7 billion euros) or $ 1.09 per share, against 2.7 billion (28 cents per share) for the corresponding period last year.

Net income for the investment bank fell 6% to $ 1.38 billion. The second quarter was marked by markets that have evolved sawtooth, alternating example falls in the stock exchanges with peaks rising in the bond market.

The income earned by the JPMorgan bond, commodity and currency has dropped 28% to 3.56 billion.The bond trading has been a major driver of earnings of all major banks.

The bank posted a windfall of $ 1.5 billion, or 36 cents per share, due to the reduction in provision for credit during the quarter.Excluding this benefit, the result announced by JPMorgan – 73 cents – more than analysts' consensus that emerged at 67 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I / B / E / S.

The bank does not renew every quarter this year discount stores but Jamie Dimon said it was the thing that needed to be done during this quarter.

He said that the bank has a solid liquidity, having repurchased $ 500 million of its shares in the first half, but noted that the bank would be more certain of its capital before increasing its dividend.

Many banks want to raise the dividend but regulators see it a bad eye, which makes more likely redemptions.

The bank said its losses on consumer loans, mortgages, credit cards and other debts had declined in the second quarter both compared to the first three months of the year versus the second quarter 2009.

JPMorgan has finally reported a charge of $ 550 million charge related to the British banking bonuses. She had previously launched a warning on that charge, saying it would be an "important" in the quarter.

Bank of China, one of China's four largest banks, announced its intention to undertake a capital increase, the amount could reach 60 billion yuan (7.0 billion euros).

The bank offers to shareholders to obtain up to 1.1 Right to subscribe for 10 shares held.

"All the products of this rights issue (…) should enhance the bank's balance sheet and improve the ratio of financial solvency of the bank," she says in a statement.

This announcement does not specify whether the parent Public Bank, Central Huijin, subscribe to this offer.

In Hong Kong, under the BoC was trading at 3.97 Hong Kong dollars Wednesday, and he treated at 3.4 yuan in Shanghai on Friday before the suspension of trading.

MASSIVE CAPITAL RAISING

The bank, which raised 4.7 billion euros last month by issuing convertible bonds in Shanghai, is looking like its main rival China to strengthen its balance sheet and to comply with the stringent requirements of regulators in terms of ratios solvency.

Agricultural Bank of China (AGBANK), China's third largest bank, has launched its next capital increase of almost 16 billion euros via an IPO in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

According to local press, Chinese authorities have given their approval to raise capital totaling 287 billion yuan (33.6 billion euros) for the four largest banks.

In recent months, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank have also announced increases in capital.

Bank of Communications, the fifth-largest bank, raised its next 2.0 billion euros in Shanghai.