Exclusive: NY Fed first rejected cyber-heist transfers, then moved $81 million
Hours before the Federal Reserve Bank of New York approved four fraudulent requests to send $81 million from a Bangladesh Bank account to cyber thieves, the Fed branch blocked those same requests because they lacked information required to transfer money, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
On the day of the theft in February, the New York Fed initially rejected 35 requests to transfer funds to various overseas accounts, a New York Fed official and a senior Bangladesh Bank official told Reuters. The Fed’s decision to later fulfill a handful of resubmitted requests raises questions about whether it missed red flags.
The New York arm of the U.S. central bank initially denied the transfer requests because they lacked proper formatting for the SWIFT messaging system, the network banks use for international financial transfers, the two officials said.
The Bangladesh Bank official said they lacked the names of correspondent banks, which typically receive wired funds. The Fed rejected the requests, which came from hackers who had broken into the SWIFT network through Bangladesh Bank systems.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cyber-heist-bangladesh-exclusive-idUSKCN0YQ041http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-idUSKCN0YO1I8
Weak U.S. employment report dims prospect of Fed rate hike
The U.S. economy created the fewest number of jobs in more than 5-1/2-years in May as manufacturing and construction employment fell sharply, which could make it harder for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by only 38,000 jobs last month, the smallest gain since September 2010, the Labor Department said on Friday. Employment gains were also restrained by a month-long strike by Verizon (VZ.N) workers, which depressed information sector payrolls by 34,000 jobs.
Underscoring the report's weakness, employers hired 59,000 fewer workers in March and April than previously reported. While the unemployment rate fell three-tenths of a percentage point to 4.7 percent in May, the lowest level since November 2007, that was because 458,000 Americans gave up the search for work.
After grim payrolls, focus turns to economy
With a June Federal Reserve interest rate hike likely off the table following Friday's dismal jobs data, U.S. equity investors may shift their focus again to whether the economy is losing too much steam to allow stocks to advance.
Investors will comb economic data over the next few weeks to see if the weak payrolls report reflected a wider trend in the U.S. economy or was an outlier. A first hint of the central bank's view of that could come Monday with a speech on the economic outlook by Fed Chair Janet Yellen.
The fresh economic worries could help keep the market mired below record highs reached in May 2015, even though the Standard & Poor's 500 index .SPX notched a third straight months of gains this May and most sectors are up since the start of the year.
"The broader question is whether the economy is gaining the kind of momentum and traction that we need for a market that has been looking toward new highs," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.
"No one is out to suggest the economy is doing a major turnaround because of this number, but we now need to see a clutch of data that suggests that this is a one-off," she said.
It may take a few weeks to get a better picture of the economic outlook, with the economic and earnings calendars light for next week. The Fed meets the following week, which will also bring data on retail sales and producer prices.
Wall Street's top banks now unanimously expect the Fed to leave interest rates unchanged this month, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks-weekahead-idUSKCN0YP2FB
XinhuanetNews:
Russian experts, officials confident about China's economy, currency
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-06/02/c_135408144.htm
Hours before the Federal Reserve Bank of New York approved four fraudulent requests to send $81 million from a Bangladesh Bank account to cyber thieves, the Fed branch blocked those same requests because they lacked information required to transfer money, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
On the day of the theft in February, the New York Fed initially rejected 35 requests to transfer funds to various overseas accounts, a New York Fed official and a senior Bangladesh Bank official told Reuters. The Fed’s decision to later fulfill a handful of resubmitted requests raises questions about whether it missed red flags.
The New York arm of the U.S. central bank initially denied the transfer requests because they lacked proper formatting for the SWIFT messaging system, the network banks use for international financial transfers, the two officials said.
The Bangladesh Bank official said they lacked the names of correspondent banks, which typically receive wired funds. The Fed rejected the requests, which came from hackers who had broken into the SWIFT network through Bangladesh Bank systems.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cyber-heist-bangladesh-exclusive-idUSKCN0YQ041http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-idUSKCN0YO1I8
Weak U.S. employment report dims prospect of Fed rate hike
The U.S. economy created the fewest number of jobs in more than 5-1/2-years in May as manufacturing and construction employment fell sharply, which could make it harder for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by only 38,000 jobs last month, the smallest gain since September 2010, the Labor Department said on Friday. Employment gains were also restrained by a month-long strike by Verizon (VZ.N) workers, which depressed information sector payrolls by 34,000 jobs.
Underscoring the report's weakness, employers hired 59,000 fewer workers in March and April than previously reported. While the unemployment rate fell three-tenths of a percentage point to 4.7 percent in May, the lowest level since November 2007, that was because 458,000 Americans gave up the search for work.
After grim payrolls, focus turns to economy
With a June Federal Reserve interest rate hike likely off the table following Friday's dismal jobs data, U.S. equity investors may shift their focus again to whether the economy is losing too much steam to allow stocks to advance.
Investors will comb economic data over the next few weeks to see if the weak payrolls report reflected a wider trend in the U.S. economy or was an outlier. A first hint of the central bank's view of that could come Monday with a speech on the economic outlook by Fed Chair Janet Yellen.
The fresh economic worries could help keep the market mired below record highs reached in May 2015, even though the Standard & Poor's 500 index .SPX notched a third straight months of gains this May and most sectors are up since the start of the year.
"The broader question is whether the economy is gaining the kind of momentum and traction that we need for a market that has been looking toward new highs," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.
"No one is out to suggest the economy is doing a major turnaround because of this number, but we now need to see a clutch of data that suggests that this is a one-off," she said.
It may take a few weeks to get a better picture of the economic outlook, with the economic and earnings calendars light for next week. The Fed meets the following week, which will also bring data on retail sales and producer prices.
Wall Street's top banks now unanimously expect the Fed to leave interest rates unchanged this month, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks-weekahead-idUSKCN0YP2FB
XinhuanetNews:
Russian experts, officials confident about China's economy, currency
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-06/02/c_135408144.htm
Last edited by Carol on Thu Jun 09, 2016 11:55 pm; edited 1 time in total
