LOUIS (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve has yet to decide how it will eventually tighten monetary policy, and either interest rate hikes or asset sales could lead the way, a top Fed official said on Tuesday.

In an interview with Reuters Insider, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said it was even possible the Fed would simultaneously raise rates and sell bonds it had accumulated.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve is in no hurry to follow Europe down the interest rate-hike trail and probably won’t budge from its ultra-easy policy stance until inflation and employment draw nearer to its goals.

The European Central Bank’s well-telegraphed rate hike on Thursday may be the first of several this year as high oil costs drive consumer prices above the ECB’s target.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Divisions at the U.S. Federal Reserve over how soon to reverse course on monetary policy emerged more clearly last month, although the central bank appeared intent to complete a $600 billion bond-buying plan.

A few officials at the Fed’s March 15 policy-setting meeting thought a stronger economy could warrant tightening monetary conditions this year, although others believed the Fed could maintain its ultra-loose stance beyond 2011, minutes of the meeting released on Tuesday said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Persistent Federal Reserve critic Representative Ron Paul plans to hold a hearing on the central bank’s emergency loans to the branches of non-U.S. banks, and could ask a Fed official to testify, his spokeswoman said on Saturday.

“I was surprised and deeply disturbed … to learn the staggering amount of money that went to foreign banks,” Paul said in a statement.

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) – Banks from Europe drew
tens of billions of dollars in emergency loans from the Federal
Reserve at the height of the financial crisis in 2008,
underscoring the critical role of the U.S. central bank in
preventing a meltdown in the world’s banking system.

Nine of the 12 largest borrowers from the Fed’s discount
window on the day the Fed lending peaked were foreign-owned
firms, documents released on Thursday showed.

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) – A bevy of European banks,
including second-tier players Dexia and Depfa, took out tens of
billions of dollars in emergency loans from the U.S. Federal
Reserve as the financial crisis exploded in 2008, documents
released on Thursday showed.

The Fed’s lending data, included among more than 25,000
pages of documents that a court forced the U.S. central bank to
release, shows that Dexia and Depfa accounted for nearly half
of all borrowing on Oct. 29, 2008, the day that lending through
the Fed’s discount window peaked at $111 billion.
Belgian-French Dexia (DEXI.BR: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) borrowed $26.5 billion and
Dublin-based Depfa, a subsidiary of German property lender Hypo
Real Estate Holding, borrowed $24.6 billion.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve on Thursday released the names of banks that borrowed from its main emergency lending facility during the financial crisis after having run out of legal appeals to block publication.

The 25,000-plus pages of documents released by the central bank provide an unprecedented view of which banks needed the most help during the crisis.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Thomas Hoenig, one of the most outspoken anti-inflation hawks among senior Federal Reserve officials, will step down as president of the Kansas City Fed October 1, the bank said on Friday.

Hoenig’s departure, which was widely expected as he reaches a regional Fed mandatory retirement age, will remove a strong voice of opposition to the central bank’s easy money policies.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will break nearly 100 years of tradition at the U.S. central bank next month when he begins talking to the media after policy meetings.

Bernanke will kick off a program of four-times-a-year news conferences on April 27 following a regularly scheduled two-day Fed meeting on monetary policy, the central bank said on Thursday. It will be the first regularly scheduled briefing by a Fed chairman in the central bank’s history.

WASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court let
stand a ruling that the U.S. Federal Reserve must disclose
details about its emergency lending programs to banks during
the financial crisis in 2008, exposing an additional aspect of
the institution’s sometimes secretive practices to view.

The Fed’s Board of Governors, which has fought efforts to
pull back the veil from its lending, said it will abide by the
determination.