Copper falls as hopes for quick end to Iran war fade

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that the goods and services deficit was $57.3 billion in February, up $2.7 billion from $54.7 ...

In the week ending March 28, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 202,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's ...

Thank you for the kind introduction, Emily, and thanks to all of you for joining us today for our third annual Eleventh District Banking Conference. I’m excited to gather bankers, regulators and supervisors to discuss the timely topics of banking conditions, fraud mitigation and integration with service providers. We regularly host events such as today’s conference to connect with bankers and deepen our understanding of the current landscape. It’s a pleasure to partner once again with the Texas Department of Banking to host this event. Thank you for being here and for taking part in this important dialogue. We have all kinds of banks here in the Eleventh District and represented at this conference. From large, nationwide institutions to community banks that each serve their towns out of a single office, your banks all make important contributions to America’s economy. More than that, the diversity of the banking ecosystem strengthens our economy. Families and businesses can find banks that best meet their needs, whatever those needs may be. Community banks know what makes their towns tick. Growing up in a small town in Kentucky, I saw first-hand how community bankers serve their neighbors. Meanwhile, larger banks bring the scale and scope of services that some customers require. And competition drives all banks to find ways to serve the economy better. Promoting a vibrant banking ecosystem is top of mind for me in all our work. The Fed, too, is a bank. We don’t take deposits from or make loans to Main Street families and businesses. But as the nation’s central bank, we serve the banking needs of commercial banks, which allows you in turn to better serve your customers. When it comes to size, the Fed is at the high end. We are the biggest bank in the country, in fact, with $6.7 trillion in assets. That represents 21 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), down from a postpandemic peak of 35 percent. But it is still substantially above the prepandemic trough of 19 percent of GDP, even though the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) recently completed the process of normalizing our balance sheet by running off assets we bought during the pandemic. The growth of the Fed’s balance sheet has prompted a lot of discussion about whether the balance sheet is too big, and if so, how we could shrink it. Today, I would like to give you my take on those questions. Of course, these are my views and not necessarily those of my Federal Reserve colleagues. Here’s how I see it. When it co LOGAN STATED THAT THE FED SHOULD FOCUS ON ITS MISSION WITHOUT GETTING SIDETRACKED BY BALANCE SHEET MATTERS. LOGAN STATES THAT GROWTH IN THE FED BALANCE SHEET IS NOT NEGATIVE IF IT SERVES THE PUBLIC'S NEEDS. FED'S LOGAN STATES THAT FORCING BANKS TO CUT BACK ON RESERVES COULD HEIGHTEN RISKS TO THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM. FED LOGAN SAYS THAT SOME WAYS TO LOWER RESERVE DEMAND NEED TO COME FROM SOURCES OTHER THAN THE FEDERAL RESERVE.