Dr. James B. Bullard has been appointed president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis by the Bank’s board of directors. Board Chairman Irl F. Engelhardt said the appointment occurred yesterday after an extensive search by the board and was approved by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

The Fed has tried, and tried, and tried but it still has not been able to lower mortgage rates. No matter how much liquidity they inject into the market, it doesn’t seem to make a difference.

The Fed cut short term rates by 75 basis points, but they included one full paragraph in their latest statement about inflation going up.

With the market stuck in a downtrend many participants are saying “Help me Obi Ben Bernanke. You’re my only hope.” Bear Stearns managed to wipe away any chance of a pre-Fed meeting rally. Rallies leading up to Fed meetings are fairly common as investors hope for good news. Selloffs prior to meetings are not common.

Responding to the Federal Reserve’s emergency action on the sale of Bear Stearns, John Irons, Research and Policy Director of the Economic Policy Institute, issued this statement:

European and Asian stock markets have dropped sharply Monday, and the dollar fell, hours after the U.S. Central Bank made moves to avert a credit crisis that threatens to plunge the U.S. economy into recession.

U.S. Federal Reserve in an emergency meeting cuts interest rates, which follows major corporations such as Bank of America and Vachovia to lower their prime rates.

Fed rate cut of .75 percent sunned the markets this morning. The Federal Open Market Committee has decided to lower its target for the federal funds rate 75 basis points to 3-1/2 percent.

The chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke is now testifying in front of House Budget Committee, saying that the U.S. Economy quickly needs help in various ways: especially in the way of a economic stimulus package. "To be useful, a fiscal stimulus package should be implemented quickly," said Bernanke.

We have been watching the growing pessimism of small business owners over the past few months as seen through the NFIB's monthly survey. It now looks like the Federal Reserve is the Grinch that has stolen entrepreneurs' Christmas.

The stock markets in USA are looking to make modest gains and to the possible Federal reserve interest rate cut. Fed's rate cut action may overshadow the subprime losses and give the markets a lift.

US government says that the labor markets in USA are little stronger than expected. This factor may influence the Federal Reserve's decision next week on whether to cut interest rates.