US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Friday met with a group of conservative activists who are unhappy with the way the Fed is conducting its interest-rate policies.
The meeting, which was set up early this month, came two days after Yellen came under heavy criticism from Republican lawmakers during a US House of Representatives hearing.
They said Yellen had politicized decisionmaking at the central bank by favoring policies pushed by US President Barack Obama and other Democrats.
Yellen rejected the criticism as unfounded.
Yellen listened carefully to the group’s proposals and asked thoughtful questions, but did not indicate whether she supported its recommendations, said Steve Lonegan, director of monetary policy at the conservative American Principles in Action.
Representatives of the Heritage Foundation and Cato Institute also participated in the meeting.
The group, which included 21 activists assembled by the conservative organizations, met with Yellen and Fed board member Lael Brainard. Yellen, Brainard and other Fed officials had met in November last year with a group of liberal activists. That meeting prompted the conservatives to request their own meeting.
Yellen listened to economists for the conservative organizations lay out a series of recommendations for how the Fed should conduct interest rate policies, including proposals to have the central bank adopt a specific rule to guide interest-rate policy, Lonegan said.
That proposal and a measure that would expand congressional oversight of the Fed through audits of its monetary decisions are being supported by Republicans in both the House and Senate.
Yellen has voiced strong opposition to both proposals, saying the audit bill would subject the Fed to undue political influence and that using a single rule to set interest rates would be unworkable.
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves fell below the US$600 billion mark at the end of last month, with the central bank reporting a total of US$596.89 billion — a decline of US$8.6 billion from February — ending a three-month streak of increases. The central bank attributed the drop to a combination of factors such as outflows by foreign institutional investors, currency fluctuations and its own market interventions. “The large-scale outflows disrupted the balance of supply and demand in the foreign exchange market, prompting the central bank to intervene repeatedly by selling US dollars to stabilize the local currency,” Department of Foreign
Taiwan is open to joining a global liquefied natural gas (LNG) program if one is created, but on the condition that countries provide delivery even in a scenario where there is a conflict with China, an energy department official said yesterday. While Taiwan’s priority is to have enough LNG at home, the nation is open to exploring potential strategic reserves in other countries such as Japan or South Korea, Energy Administration Deputy Director-General Chen Chung-hsien (陳崇憲) said. While the LNG market does not have a global reserve for emergencies like that of oil, the concept has been raised a few times —
AI-FUELED DEMAND: The company has been benefiting from the skyrocketing prices for DRAM chips amid the AI frenzy, especially its core product — DDR4 DRAM chips DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday reported that its revenue for the first quarter surged 582.91 percent to NT$49.09 billion (US$1.54 billion) from NT$7.19 billion a year earlier, as the supply crunch caused chip price spikes. Last quarter’s figure is the highest on record. On a quarterly basis, revenue jumped 63.14 percent from NT$30.09 billion, the company said. In January, Nanya Technology expected global DRAM supply scarcity to continue through the first half of 2028, thanks to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) forecast prices of standard DRAM chips would rise between 58 percent and 63
RSS