FBI probing wave of fake bomb threats to U. S. Jewish centers

January 19, 2017

The JCC Association of North America, a network of health and education centers, said the threatened organizations were working with police and many had resumed operations after no bombs were found nor injuries reported, as was the case after the earlier series of threats on Jan. 9.
No one claimed responsibility for the calls on Wednesday nor nine days ago, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has not named any suspects nor described a likely motive.
The FBI and the Justice Department are investigating possible civil rights violations in connection with threats, the FBI said in a statement.
« The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence, and will ensure this matter is investigated in a fair, thorough, and impartial manner, » the statement said.
In Miami Beach, Florida, a center received a call at 9:54 a.m. (1454 GMT) and was evacuated, police said on Twitter. Officers and police dogs searched the area but found no bomb and the center reopened, they said.
Two centers in Connecticut said on Facebook they had received threatening phone calls and had evacuated. No bombs were found, they said.
The Jan. 9 threats targeted 16 Jewish community centers in nine U. S. states, prompting the FBI to look into the source of the calls, some of them made using an automated « robocall » system.
It was not immediately clear if there was overlap between centers that received calls on Jan. 9 and those that received them on Wednesday, but the volume of threats was unheard of, said Paul Goldenberg, national director of the Secure Community Network, a nonprofit that advises Jewish groups on security.
« These are individuals or groups that want to disrupt our way of life, » Goldenberg said, adding that they would not succeed. « We’re not going to shut down institutions because of this. »
After last week’s threats, the JCC Association of North America trained staff and reviewed security plans, the group said.
« While we’re extremely proud of our JCCs for professionally handling yet another threatening situation, we are concerned about the anti-Semitism behind these threats, » David Posner, director of strategic performance at the association, said in a statement.
(Reporting by David Ingram in New York; Editing by David Gregorio and Jonathan Oatis)

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After 8 Years Of Unbroken War, Obama Hands Over Conflicts To Trump

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January 19, 2017

David Welna
President Obama speaks to U. S. troops at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, in 2012. Obama removed the large U. S. ground combat forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, as promised. But as the leaves office, the U. S. is still waging war in those two countries, as well as Syria.
Tony Gutierrez/AP
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President Obama speaks to U. S. troops at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, in 2012. Obama removed the large U. S. ground combat forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, as promised. But as the leaves office, the U. S. is still waging war in those two countries, as well as Syria.
Among the many things President Obama will be handing off to his successor this week: stubborn wars in three separate countries.
Obama came to office eight years ago vowing to end U. S. military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet President-elect Trump stands to inherit the nation’s longest war ever in Afghanistan, as well as renewed fighting in Iraq that has spread to Syria.
The outgoing president was reminded of the persistence of those wars at the pomp-filled farewell ceremony the Pentagon put on for him earlier this month at a nearby military base.
« Mr. President, we’ve been at war throughout your tenure, » said Gen. Joesph Dunford, chosen by Obama in 2015 to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. « That’s a period longer than any other American president. »
That’s right: Obama is the first president to serve eight years and preside over American wars during every single day of his tenure. That’s not what Obama wanted or expected.
But he reminded the troops seeing him off that thanks to a new approach he’s taken to those wars, the number of American forces involved in them has dropped sharply.
« Not by letting our forces get dragged into sectarian conflicts and civil wars, but with smart, sustainable, principled partnerships, » Obama said of the strategy he’s shifted to of training, advising and assisting local forces to do the ground fighting. « That’s how we brought most of our troops home — from nearly 180,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan down to 15,000 today. »
Fewer forces, but protracted conflict
Of those remaining in the field, 8,400 U. S. forces are in Afghanistan. That’s still more than the small residual force Obama had aimed to leave behind.
Some of those American forces in Afghanistan are fighting 13 different groups that the U. S. considers terrorists. Others are training and advising Afghan security forces to fight the Taliban, which Washington does not formally consider a terrorist organization.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter (left) arrives in Kabul in December with Gen. John Nicholson (center), the top U. S. commander in Afghanistan.
David Welna/NPR
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Defense Secretary Ash Carter (left) arrives in Kabul in December with Gen. John Nicholson (center), the top U. S. commander in Afghanistan.
« When you look at the performance of the Afghan forces this year, it was a tough year, » said Gen. John Nicholson, the top U. S. commander in Afghanistan, at a December news conference held at Bagram Airfield. « They were tested, but they prevailed. »
Others take a dimmer view of the effort to shift the lead in fighting the Taliban to Afghanistan’s security forces.
« It’s basically playing whack-a-mole, » says John Sopko, who since 2012 has been the U. S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
While presenting SIGAR’s latest report at a military think tank in Washington earlier this month, Sopko described the Afghan National Security Forces as hobbled by corruption and poor leadership.
« We’re defining success by the absence of failure, » Sopko said of those forces’ ongoing attempts to retake territory lost to the Taliban. « At a minimum, they’re playing defense, and are not taking the fight to the Taliban. »
What’s more, a war that began with a U. S. invasion 15 years ago in October 2001 appears to have no end in sight.
« The situation in Afghanistan, in the rosiest possible reasonable analysis, is a stalemate, » said Stephen Biddle, a military analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations and George Washington University. The war, he added « can only be sustained if the U. S. Congress keeps writing multibillion-dollar-a-year checks to keep the Afghan National Security Forces in the field. »
One of the 8,400 remaining U. S. troops in Afghanistan guards the bay of a CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter as it flies near Kabul.
David Welna/NPR
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One of the 8,400 remaining U. S. troops in Afghanistan guards the bay of a CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter as it flies near Kabul.
The rise of ISIS
And then there’s the war Obama has waged since 2014 against the Islamic State, both in Iraq and Syria.
« These terrorists have lost about half of their territory, » Obama told troops at his Pentagon farewell ceremony. « They are losing their leaders, towns and cities are being liberated, and I have no doubt this barbaric terrorist group will be destroyed — because of you. »
Last month the top U. S. commander in Iraq, speaking at a fire base just outside Mosul that was held by Islamic State forces as recently as July, defended what many see as a slow-motion assault on the Islamic State forces holding that city.
« Any army on the planet, to include the United States Army, would be challenged by this fight, » said Gen. Stephen Townsend. « The Iraqi army has come back from near defeat two years ago, and now they’re attacking this major city. »
In neighboring, war-ravaged Syria, at least 600 U. S. Special Forces are now on the ground, mainly to train and assist local rebel forces. The ultimate aim is to oust Islamic State fighters from Raqqa, the capital of the group’s self-declared caliphate.
Some experts doubt such an approach — arming and training an array of Syrians from often competing factions — will work.
« We’re losing, they’re winning, » says the Brooking Institution’s Michael O’Hanlon. « They maybe don’t say it in quite those terms, because they like the fact that we’re still pulling the wool collectively over our own eyes, but the idea of defeating ISIS, replacing (Syrian President Bashar) Assad, and doing all this with a minimal American military investment, does not add up to a logical policy. »
As for the incoming president, it’s not clear how he’ll fight these inherited wars. Trump barely mentioned Afghanistan during his campaign. It’s also unclear how he’d handle the anti-Islamic State campaign in Iraq and Syria.
One clue may be found in what retired Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s national security adviser, told NPR last summer.
« Where is the king of Jordan, where’s the emirs of some of these other countries?, » Flynn asked rhetorically about nations in the region he felt should be doing more to fight the Islamic State. « They need to actually stand up and, internationally and publicly, condemn this violent form of this ideology that is operating inside of their bloodstream right now — and I don’t see it. And that’s where the president of the United States needs to place a different set of demands on these guys. »
When Flynn uttered those words, Trump was just the Republican nominee for the White House. The now-president-elect’s recommended strategy for fighting the Islamic State had been characteristically blunt.
« I would just bomb those suckers, » Trump told a campaign rally in Iowa shortly before that state’s caucuses a year ago.
As president and commander in chief, Trump soon will have the power to do so.

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Why Talladega band belongs at Donald Trump's inauguration

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January 19, 2017

William R. Harvey is the president of Hampton University and Chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He is the author of the book Principles of Leadership. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) The marching band of my alma mater, Talladega College, the oldest historically black college in Alabama, accepted an invitation to participate in Donald Trump’s inaugural parade. Many people, including some Talladega alumni, are upset.

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Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Ivan Rodriguez are elected to the Hall of Fame

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January 19, 2017

If the last strike killed baseball in Montreal, Rick Monday wounded it.
Get to the World Series , and a town falls in love with its team — not just the diehards, but the citizens more interested in civic pride than Curtis Pride. Before the 1994 Expos — the best team in baseball when the strike hit — there were the 1981 Expos.
They were one win from the World Series. On what will forever be known as “Blue Monday” in Montreal, the outfielder named Monday hit the ninth-inning home run that propelled the Dodgers into the World Series and dashed the dreams of a province.
What might not have been fully apparent until Wednesday is how talented those Expos were. The Dodgers had the household names — Valenzuela, Garvey , Lopes, Russell, Cey and Baker among them — but the Expos had Hall of Famers.
Of the first four batters in the Montreal lineup on Blue Monday, three are in the Hall of Fame: Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, and now Tim Raines.
Raines — in his 10th and final year on the ballot — joined Houston Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez in being elected to the Hall of Fame on Wednesday. Rodriguez, a 14-time All-Star best known as a star for the Texas Rangers, joined Johnny Bench as the only catchers elected on the first ballot.
The Baseball Writers Assn. of America did not elect anyone in 2013, but the writers have elected 12 players in the four years since then, the most in any four-year period since the 13 players selected in the first four years of balloting, from 1936-39.
Bagwell got 86.2% of the vote, Raines 86.0% and Rodriguez 76%, with 75% required for election. San Diego Padres closer Trevor Hoffman got 74% — five votes shy of election — and Angels and Expos outfielder Vladimir Guerrero got 72%.
The elected players will be inducted in July, in a class that includes former commissioner Bud Selig and Atlanta Braves executive John Schuerholz, both of whom were selected last month by a Hall of Fame committee.
Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, each of whom has been shunned by the BBWAA because of ties to steroid use, took another step toward election. Each got 54% of the vote, jumping from 35% two years ago and 45% last year.
Bonds, the only seven-time MVP in major league history, and Clemens, the only seven-time Cy Young winner, have five years left on the ballot.
That topic remains delicate, even on an otherwise celebratory day. Bagwell, on a conference call, left no doubt about where he stood on Guerrero and the Hall of Fame.
“I think Vladdy is a Hall of Famer,” Bagwell said.
And Bonds? “Barry Bonds is the best player I ever played against in my entire life. … I’m a fan. Let’s put it that way.”
Rodriguez said he spoke with Guerrero on Wednesday, and the two men congratulated one another.
“I’m sure he is going to easily be in the Hall of Fame,” Rodriguez said. “Next year, for sure.”
Montreal could have had double its fun Wednesday had Guerrero been elected. Guerrero, like Raines, had his best years in Montreal. However, Guerrero could wear the cap of the Angels into Cooperstown, as he won his only MVP award and made five postseason appearances in Anaheim.
Still, for a city that played host to a major league team for only 35 years, Montreal has a surprisingly robust baseball history, as the home city for three and maybe four Hall of Famers and for the minor league team for which Jackie Robinson made his debut.
“I really loved playing in Montreal,” Raines said. “I felt like I was part Canadian. I still do.”
The feeling was mutual, so much so that the prime minister of Canada tweeted congratulations to Raines on Wednesday.
However, at a time when Montreal is trying to woo Major League Baseball back to town, Raines suggested his long wait for election might have been caused in part by the relative invisibility of the Expos beyond their borders.
“Outside of Canada, we weren’t as exposed to the major leagues as much as big-market teams. We didn’t have the national TV exposure,” said Raines, who played for the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees after leaving Montreal.
“Really, the only time I was exposed was when I was in big-market cities. A lot of people didn’t get the full pleasure of watching and noticing all of the things I was able to do on the baseball field.”
Raines played 13 years in Montreal, his first in 1981. That would be the Expos’ lone postseason appearance.
They lost the first game of the best-of-five National League Championship Series , but Ray Burris beat Valenzuela in Game 2. The Expos won Game 3, the Dodgers Game 4.
The final game was tied, 1-1, through eight innings. In the ninth, with closer Jeff Reardon battling a bad back, the Expos turned to ace Steve Rogers, on two days’ rest.
Garvey popped up. Cey flied out. Monday homered.
No World Series for the Expos, that year or ever. Now, no Expos. And, on the day he was elected to the Hall of Fame, Raines could not help but wonder.
“I really feel,” he said on MLB Network, “we were a closer away.”

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© Source: http://www.latimes.com/la-sp-baseball-hall-of-fame-20170118-story.html
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Asian shares mixed, Japan's Nikkei gains on weaker yen

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January 19, 2017

Shares were meandering in sluggish trading in Asia on Thursday as investors awaited the inauguration of Donald Trump as president. Japan’s benchmark rose after the dollar slipped against the yen.
KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.7 percent to 19,027.09 and Australia’s S&P ASX 200 added 0.2 percent to 5,692.70. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong slipped 0.5 percent to 22,986.08 and South Korea’s Kospi was flat at 2,070.33. The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1 percent lower to 3,110.49. Shares in Southeast Asia were mixed.
WALL STREET: After a torrid post-election rally, markets are listless ahead of Friday’s inauguration. Trump will take the oath of office on Friday, and investors are waiting to see how much of his campaign-trail rhetoric will become government policy. The Standard & Poor’s 500 has moved by less than 0.4 percent, up or down, for nine straight days. It gained 4 points, or 0.2 percent, on Wednesday to 2,271.89. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 22.05 points, or 0.1 percent, to 19,804.72. The Nasdaq composite index added 16.93, or 0.3 percent, to 5,555.65.
THE QUOTE: « While the inauguration is dominating headlines, simmering on the back burner is the overriding theme of U. S. protectionism, expressly directed at China. With so many prominent trade hawks joining the Trump administration, it all points to a massive shift in U. S. trade policy. That does not paint a rosy picture for regional… exporters, nor countries like Australia, which play such a vital role in the global supply chain, » said Stephen Innes, a senior trader at OANDA.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose against many of its rivals after sinking sharply against the British pound and other currencies earlier in the week. The dollar rose to 114.52 yen from 112.66 late Tuesday. The British pound fell to $1.2285 from $1.2396, and the euro fell to $1.0641 from $1.0709.
ENERGY: Benchmark U. S. crude oil gained 43 cents to $51.51 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell $1.40 to settle at $51.08 a barrel on Wednesday. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 47 cents to $54.39 a barrel.

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As market counts down to inauguration, markets want to see what Trump Treasury pick says about dollar, bonds

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January 19, 2017

Fed Chair Janet Yellen woke up the bond market late Wednesday with a surprisingly hawkish stance, and now markets look forward to testimony Thursday from Donald Trump’s Treasury nominee, with one day left before the inauguration.
Congress may ask Steven Mnuchin a lot of questions about his role in his former firm’s foreclosures on homeowners, but markets are also going to watch for the former Goldman Sachs partner’s comments about the dollar and Treasury supply. Comments about China and its currency will also be of big interest.
« We’re going to hang on every word, » said Jim Caron, fixed income portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Caron said that Mnuchin, in an interview on CNBC when he was nominated in November, suggested that the Treasury could issue longer term debt. If he suggests that again, Caron said rates could rise.
Earlier this week, Trump himself said he believes the dollar is too strong. It’s the Treasury secretary who typically comments on the currency, so Mnuchin’s words on the topic could also be powerful after Trump sent the dollar lower. Strategists noted that Mnuchin stopped short of mentioning the currency in the CNBC interview and said a strong economy is important to the U. S.
Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs partner, founded Dune Capital Management and bought failed housing lender Indymac in 2009. He rebuilt it under the name OneWest and sold it to CIT in 2015. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the New York attorney general’s investigation into reverse mortgages includes a firm that Mnuchin had owned as part of OneWest. The newspaper quoted an unnamed source on the investigation, and Mnuchin’s lawyer called it « politics. »
Mnuchin has also tried his hand at film finance, producing such films as « Sully » and « The Legend of Tarzan. »
Jack Ablin, CIO of BMO Private Bank, said Mnuchin’s hearing will be important. « I think it could help set the tone in how cooperative the Congress will be with the new president, » he said.
Stocks were mixed Wednesday, but financial stocks and bond yields moved higher after Yellen said there could be a couple of rate hikes this year. The 10-year Treasury yield jumped to a one-week high of 2.43 percent. The S&P 500 edged up 4 points to 2,271, while rate-sensitive financial stocks gained 0.8 percent.
« It seems like there’s potentially three rate hikes in the cards for 2017. Our thinking was there were two for 2017. This certainly came as a little bit of a surprise to the markets, » said Caron. « She said she expects a few rate hikes this year. I don’t know what that exactly meant, but I would say three is now more a probability. »
Many economists had expected two rate hikes this year even though the Fed’s own forecast is for three. Also helping sentiment toward more rate hikes was a jump in CPI inflation to 2.1 percent, the biggest year on year increase since 2014.
Yellen speaks again Thursday evening at 8 p.m. ET on the economic outlook and monetary policy at Stanford University. Earlier in the day, San Francisco Fed President John Williams speaks at 3:45 p.m. and Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren speaks on the economic outlook at 4 p.m.
Data Thursday include weekly jobless claims, housing starts and the Philadelphia Fed survey, all at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Earnings are expected from Union Pacific , Bank of NY Mellon, PPG, KeyCorp and JP Hunt, before the bell. IBM and American Express report after the close.
Ablin said there could be room for disappointment in earnings, since the market is expecting a 13.5 percent jump in profits this year. He also said therefore the stock market could be overvalued by as much as 5 to 10 percent.
« Companies and President Trump will have to pull a rabbit out of their hats, » he wrote in a note.

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© Source: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/18/as-market-counts-down-to-inauguration-markets-want-to-see-what-trump-treasury-pick-says-about-dollar-bonds.html
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Slumping Knicks knock off Celtics, 117-106

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January 19, 2017

BOSTON — New York’s locker room door opened and music was blaring in the background.
It’s not a scene that’s happened after too many Knicks’ games lately.
Derrick Rose matched his season high with 30 points, and the slumping Knicks beat the Boston Celtics 117-106 on Wednesday night.
New York played without injured starters Kristaps Porzingis and Joakim Noah, but Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Willy Hernangomez each scored 17 points to help make up for their absence.
“It was a big win for us to come in here and kind of put everything to the side in spite of what’s been surrounding the team, and really focus in on playing basketball and winning,” said forward Carmelo Anthony, who reiterated his desire to stay in New York on Tuesday.
It was just their third win in 14 games in a season that’s been sliding away quickly since the calendar turned to 2017.
“These guys are a determined bunch,” New York Coach Jeff Hornacek said. “They’ve had some bad breaks, we’ve had some bad games, but they stay in there together.”
Isaiah Thomas led Boston with 39 points, his 13th time this season with 30 or more points. Jae Crowder added 21 for the Celtics, who lost for only the fourth time in 17 games.
“We didn’t have a look most of the night that you felt good about,” Boston Coach Brad Stevens said.
Al Horford, Boston’s big free-agent acquisition during the summer, had five points on 2-of-14 shooting. He was 1 for 8 on 3-point attempts.
“That was definitely tough for me because they were good looks,” he said. “I even felt good on a few of them. They just didn’t go in.”
Boston closed to 97-96 on Jaylen Brown’s two free throws with just under eight minutes to play, but Justin Holiday and Courtney Lee nailed 3-pointers 29 seconds apart, pushing New York’s lead back to seven.
Rose then capped an 8-0 spree by putting in his own miss after Thomas missed a jumper – his seventh straight shot that was off.
“Just playing my game,” said Rose, who was 13 for 24 from the floor. “Just waiting for coach to call my number, just like tonight – he called my number.”
Porzingis was out with a sore left Achilles and Noah was sidelined by a sore left ankle. Porzingis missed his fourth straight game, but did shoot before the game. Noah played in their last game. Both big men are expected to undergo MRIs on Thursday.
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Here's why you may not trust your financial advisor

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January 19, 2017

Here’s a surprise: Your financial advisor may not be operating with your best interests at heart.
That was the finding from a report released Wednesday by the Consumer Federation of America, a Washington, D. C.-based consumer advocacy group. The organization looked at 25 major brokerage firms and insurance companies.
The report said while brokerage firms and insurance companies call their professionals « financial advisors, » these individuals often are actually sales representatives who pitch mutual funds, annuities and insurance products.
« The firms know what sells to the public, » said Barbara Roper, director of investor protection at the CFA and a co-author of the report.
« They know if they want to attract business, they have to portray themselves as fiduciary advisors, » she said.
The Department of Labor is set to roll out a rule on April 10 that would require broker-dealers and financial advisors to offer advice putting the client’s best interests first when giving guidance about retirement accounts such as IRAs. The regulation does not apply to regular brokerage investment accounts.
« SIFMA has long supported a best interest standard for broker-dealers across all retail investment accounts, not just retirement accounts, » wrote Kenneth E. Bentsen, president and CEO of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, a New York and Washington, D. C.-based organization that represents broker-dealers and banks, in an email.
« We continue to believe that the Securities and Exchange Commission, not the DOL, is the agency to create a best-interest standard to protect retail investors, and we will continue to advocate to make that happen, » he wrote.
The report said broker-dealers and insurance companies tout financial planning and investment advice on their websites that’s based on the particular needs of the client.
However, Roper said, industry lobbyists who represent these firms took a different tack by suing to block the fiduciary rule, according to the report.
More than $7 trillion in IRA assets would be subject to the fiduciary regulation. These accounts have been large money makers for financial services firms.
« They call themselves financial advisors and say that it’s all about personalized advice, » Roper said. « But the trade associations go into court and say this isn’t advice at all, that it’s just sales and an arm’s length sales transaction. »
This leaves the investing public confused about their advisors’ real role, she said.
« The ‘report’ fails to acknowledge the fact that the overwhelming majority of our members have been dually registered for decades, therefore working as fiduciaries, » wrote Chris Paulitz, a senior vice president at the Financial Services Institute, a Washington, D. C.-based organization that represents broker-dealers, in an email.
You should familiarize yourself with how your advisor gets paid.
Roper suggests asking your advisor to sign a fiduciary oath which will require him or her to avoid conflicts of interest.
Don’t be afraid to ask whether he or she collects a commission for the sale of mutual funds, annuities and insurance.
« There is nothing inherently wrong with commissions, but it’s about all of the other conflicts, » Roper said. « That includes paying brokers more to sell one product over another and basing bonuses on their success in meeting sales quotas for proprietary products. «

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Janet Yellen says Fed will hike rates "a few times" a year

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January 19, 2017

But in a speech in San Francisco on Wednesday, she said she can’t say when the next interest rate will occur or how high rates will rise. She said that will depend on how the economy performs in the coming months. Last month, the Fed, in its compilation of rate-setting members’ projections, indicated it aimed for three quarter-point increases in 2017.
The Federal Reserve voted unanimously Wed. to raise interest rates one quarter of one percent. Fed Chair Janet Yellen cited falling unemployment…
Yellen said Fed officials, who boosted short-term rates for a second time last month, expect to raise rates “a few times a year” until they have pushed the Fed’s benchmark rate close to 3 percent by the end of 2019. The rate now stands in a range of 0.5 percent to 0.75 percent. The first increase came in December 2015, after the central bank lowered the benchmark to near-zero to combat the economic downturn.
The 3 percent level for the Fed’s target for the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other, is the point that the Fed currently believes is the so-called neutral rate — the level where the Fed’s interest rate policies are not spurring growth or holding it back.
“Right now our foot is still pressing on the gas pedal, though, as I noted, we have eased back a bit,” Yellen said. “Our foot remains on the pedal in part because we want to make sure the economic expansion remains strong enough to withstand an expected shock, given that we don’t have much room to cut interest rates.”
Currently, Yellen said inflation is still running below the Fed’s 2 percent objective, by its preferred measure of prices, and that some measures show that even though unemployment is below 5 percent, there could still be room to make further progress on jobs.
“For instance, wage growth has only recently begun to pick up and remains fairly low,” Yellen said.
She said that, as the economy gets closer to the Fed’s goals on employment and inflation, it will make sense to “gradually reduce” the level of support the Fed is providing by raising interest rates.
“Waiting too long to begin moving toward the neutral rate could risk a nasty surprise down the road — either too much inflation, financial instability or both,” Yellen said in her speech to the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco.
During her appearance, Yellen made no mention of the incoming Trump administration. President-election Donald Trump was critical of Yellen during the campaign, accusing the Fed of being political and keeping interest rates low to help Democrats.
Yellen has denied this charge. She has said she intends to remain as Fed chair until her term ends in February 2018.
Yellen was asked how the Fed safeguards its political independence while at the same time strengthening policy coordination with the executive branch.
One long tradition dating back decades, she said, is the Fed chair’s regular meetings with the administration’s Treasury secretary.
“During my time, I have had virtually a weekly breakfast or lunch with Jack Lew,” Yellen said, referring to the current Treasury secretary.
She said the meetings are used for exchanging views on the economy, but she said she has never felt pressure from the administration to follow a particular course on interest rates.
“We share a common interest in the success of the U. S. economy, and the administrations, at least the ones I have experience with, respect the independence of the Fed,” Yellen said.

Similarity rank: 4.3

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At beginning of 'long bear market in bonds,' which should help banks, investor Bill Miller says

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January 19, 2017

The bull market in bonds is over and that should benefit financials, legendary investor Bill Miller told CNBC on Wednesday.
« We’re at the beginning of a long bear market in bonds that will last for who knows how long, » he said in an interview with » Closing Bell. »
While bank stocks have enjoyed a run up since President-elect Donald Trump won the election, Miller, who is chairman and chief investment officer at LMM, believes history shows there is probably more room to run.
That’s because back in the 1950s, when there was a long bear market in bonds, the banks did really well and traded at market multiples, he explained.
Therefore, he thinks big banks are going to have a « very nice several year run, » especially if the yield curve shifts up.
One favorite name of his is OneMain , which he called the « perfect Trump stock. »
« If we’re going to bring all these jobs back and get all the people to work, that’s going to work and it’s a very cheap stock, » Miller said.
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