Jerome Powell

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is dismissing claims that loose monetary policy has led to rising home values and shrinking inventory and insists that the market is buoyed by creditworthy borrowers and investors.

The heads of the Federal Reserve and Treasury are urging passage of legislation that would replace Libor with the Secured Overnight Financing Rate in certain contracts. That would spare banks litigation over trillions of dollars of contracts when Libor expires in 2023.

The Federal Reserve is credited with containing damage to the financial system from the coronavirus pandemic, but experts say the limits of the central bank’s power to prop up the economy will likely become more apparent in the new year.

The Trump administration has compelled the Federal Reserve to shut down the Main Street Lending Program and other facilities that aid banks’ pandemic relief efforts, but President-elect Biden’s Treasury nominee could help turn the spigot back on.

Opening a bank or investment account — or even securing employment in a racism-free workplace — is out of reach for many Black Americans.

The statement comes after multiple small and midsize institutions earlier this year warned the agencies that the secured overnight financing rate was ill-suited to them.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council said the mortgage giants may need a bigger capital cushion than their regulator has proposed, but stopped short of designating them as “systemically important financial institutions.”

Commercial real estate companies are among those left out of the Federal Reserve’s middle-market relief program, but House members said they need government-backed financing to navigate the pandemic as much as anyone.

The central bank said it would keep interest rates at current levels through at least to help the U.S. economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Whoever wins the White House in November may have immediate agency openings to fill, while a key decision looms about who will run the Federal Reserve after Jerome Powell’s term expires in 2022.