Top Interest Rate Headlines July 8, 2011: Martin J. Gruenberg To Be Nominated By Obama For FDIC Chairman

Martin J. Gruenberg To Be Nominated By Obama For FDIC Chairman
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama said Friday that he will nominate Martin J. Gruenberg to become chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Gruenberg would succeed Sheila Bair, who plans to end her five-year term as one of the nation's top banking regulators on July 8. Bair was a holdover from the Bush administration and one of several regulators who helped shape the federal response to the 2008 financial crisis.
http://jlne.ws/nrBVaA

GOP bicker with FDIC over small bank capital, economic recovery  
MarketWatch
While most of Washington is focusing on the disappointing U.S. employment report for June that stunned investors and confused economists, a group of lawmakers and regulators spent Friday arguing over whether community banks should be required to hold more or less capital and what the buffers mean for jobs and economic stability.
The target of a group of Republican lawmakers in a House committee is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and its team of examiners supervising community banks.
http://jlne.ws/nRVi2s

FOREX-Dollar slides vs yen, franc on dismal U.S. jobs data
Fri Jul 8, 2011 12:35pm EDT
* Dollar drops on weaker-than-expected jobs data
* Expectations of Fed rate hike pushed back
* Swiss franc, yen rally on safety bid
By Julie Haviv
NEW YORK, July 8 (Reuters) - The dollar dropped against the yen and Swiss franc on Friday as dour U.S. jobs data strengthened expectations the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates low well into next year, prompting investors to embrace alternate safe-havens.
http://jlne.ws/qAfscE

Futures traders cut bets on Fed rate hike
By Ann Saphir
CHICAGO (Reuters) Fri Jul 8, 2011 - U.S. short-term interest rate futures traders are betting the Federal Reserve will stay on hold until well into 2012 after a government report showed U.S. companies hired far fewer workers than expected in June.
Traders, who had thought the Fed would likely begin raising rates by the central bank's July 2012 meeting, slashed those bets after Friday's report, which showed U.S. employers hired the fewest number of workers in nine months.
http://jlne.ws/o0ArZX

TREASURIES-30-year bonds rise more than a point
NEW YORK, July 8 (Reuters) - Prices on U.S. 30-year Treasury bonds rose more than a point on Friday, extending earlier gains, after a disappointing June payrolls report fueled bets on tame inflation and the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates low for longer than previously thought.  The 30-year bond US30YT=RR, the longest U.S. government maturity, last traded up 1-4/32 in price for a yield of 4.30 percent, down 7 basis points from late on Thursday.
http://jlne.ws/pqhJUr

Raising interest rates will reduce consumer confidence
Mozo, Friday 08 July 2011
If the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) raises interest rates soon, the effect could be a downturn in consumer confidence, according to building materials manufacturer CSR.  Earlier this week, the RBA opted to keep the cash rate at the 4.75 per cent level set in November 2010, marking the eighth consecutive month in which there was no change.
Rob Sindel, managing director of CSR, observed that the current economic climate is "quite uncertain", reports the Australian.
http://jlne.ws/qdAzuS

Three-Month Euribor At Two-Year High As ECB Raises Rates
WSJ.com
By Neelabh Chaturvedi Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
LONDON (Dow Jones)--The cost of borrowing euros for three months in the interbank market rose to a new two-year high Friday, a day after the European Central Bank raised its key interest rate for the second time this year.
The three-month Euro Interbank Offered Rate, also known as Euribor, was fixed at 1.593%, up from 1.583%.The spread between the three-month Euribor and the three-month Euro Overnight Index Average rate, also known as Eonia, widened to 24.1 basis points from 22.5 basis points. " http://jlne.ws/pqbbs8

Ex Fed Reserve's Kohn: US Monetary Policy Isn't A Currency War
WSJ.com AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France (Dow Jones)--Adjustments to the global economy should take place through exchange-rate fluctuations, rather than different inflation rates, former U.S. Federal Reserve vice-president Donald Kohn said Friday.
http://jlne.ws/nwRbNv

New Docs Show Goldman Tapped Fed Program For $15 Billion Loan In '08
Forbes.com
Data obtained by Bloomberg News through the Freedom of Information Act by revealed that Goldman Sachs borrowed $15 billion from the Federal Reserve in late 2008.
http://jlne.ws/nv8cS5

CORRECT:Geithner Doesn't View 14th Amendment As Way Around US Debt Limit -Official WSJ.com
By Tom Barkley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner doesn't believe the 14th Amendment could provide a way to skirt the debt ceiling, and has never made such an argument, a Treasury official said Friday in response to a newspaper column.
George Madison, Treasury's general counsel, sought to correct an assertion made by constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe in an opinion piece in Friday's edition of the New York Times that Geithner has suggested the constitutional amendment could be used to issue more debt if Congress refuses to raise the country's legal borrowing limit.
http://jlne.ws/p1Blt5