Legendary Fed chair Alan Greenspan dies aged 100

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Alan Greenspan, the legendary chair of the US Federal Reserve, has died aged 100. He ran the institution from 1987 to 2006, a bullish period characterised by record growth, surging stocks and low inflation. This record meant Greenspan, known for his thick-rimmed glasses and trademark pipe, was feted in office as an economic rockstar and even drew comparisons with the Delphic Oracle. Another nickname was “maestro”. He was a firm believer in the principle that markets thrived when unhindered by burdensome regulation and kept interest rates steadfastly low. The 2008 financial crash was a reckoning that tarnished his reputation, with critics blaming him for failing to spot the vulnerabilities in the US’s heavily securitised mortgage market. Its collapse, he told Congress in 2008, left him “in a state of shocked disbelief”.