Bernanke: QE INFINITI IS FIRMLY ENTRENCHED

No rate rise on horizon: Bernanke

• AAP
• July 18, 2013 1:43PM

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has reiterated the Fed isn't close to raising interest rates. Source: AAP

FEDERAL Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has reiterated the Fed is nowhere close to raising interest rates, assuring markets that the US easy money tap would not soon dry up.

With the economy still facing risks, especially from government spending cuts, Bernanke told a congressional panel on Wednesday the Fed is still planning to trim its quantitative easing stimulus, if growth continues at a steady pace.
But expectations that the Fed was poised to start tightening monetary policy, which have sent interest rates jumping and sparked turmoil in global markets, were unwarranted, he stressed.
"I don't think the Fed can get interest rates up very much, because the economy is weak, inflation rates are low," Bernanke told the House Financial Services Committee.

"If we were to tighten policy, the economy would tank."

BLOOMBERG: Housing starts plunge to lowest level in year:

'We're bound to have some hiccups along the way'

(BLOOMBERG) — The residential real-estate rebound suffered a setback in June as housing starts unexpectedly fell to the lowest level in almost a year, curbing how much construction contributed to U.S. economic growth last quarter.
Work began on 836,000 houses at an annualized rate, the least since August and down 9.9 percent from a revised 928,000 pace in May, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. The drop was led by a 26.2 percent plunge in multifamily projects, which are more volatile than work on single-family homes.

 

BLOOMBERG:

Gorilla Capital Flipping Homes as Rebound Revives Rapid Trades

By Heather Perlberg - Jul 19, 2013 7:50 AM ET

John Helmick lloves to buy homes reeking of cat urine and doesn’t mind if they’re infested with rats, bats or bees. His seven-year-old Gorilla Capital seeks out some of the most distressed properties to avoid competition and get the best deals, then sells them 60 to 120 days later after major renovations for an average 13 percent return. After flipping 400 homes last year, he expects to sell 500 in 2013 in eight states across the country, making the Eugene, Oregon-based firm one of the largest companies of its type in the U.S.