The US economy has slowed down
Retail sales and industrial production both fell in January, but there were also encouraging signs. Decline in both manufacturing and retail sales The US economy took a breather in January after brisk growth at the end of last year, but remains "fundamentally healthy". Retail sales fell 0.8% in January compared with December, the [...
The economy continues
The US economy continued to grow in the last quarter of the year . The Commerce Department said on Thursday (25.01.2024) that gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 3.3% in the fourth quarter, following expectations of 2% growth after growing at a 4.9% rate in the third quarter. Beating pessimistic expectations The US economy has outperformed expectations. The largest economy in [...]
Inflation in the euro area rose less than expected
Eurozone inflation rose in December , but less than expected, which may fuel further speculation that the European Central Bank could soon signal its readiness to cut interest rates. The bloc's consumer price index rose 2.9% year-on-year from 2.4% [...], according to preliminary data released on Friday (05.01.2024) by the European Union's statistics office Eurostat.
New York Fed president says central bank "not really talking about cutting rates"
Federal Reserve officials on Friday (15.12.2023) offered competing views on when they might start cutting interest rates next year after Chairman Jerome Powell suggested they were likely done raising them. There is no talk of a rate cut at the moment One of Powell's senior trustees said on Friday that central bank officials at their meeting last week actively [...]
Investors see an interest rate cut coming, recession or not
Twenty months after the Federal Reserve launched its historic campaign against inflation. Interest-rate futures last week indicated about a 60 percent chance the Fed will cut rates by a quarter percentage point by its May 2024 meeting, up from 29 percent at the end of October, according to CME Group data. The same data points to four [...]
Slowing inflation likely to end Fed rate hikes
Consumer prices were flat overall last month and rose 3.2% year-on-year, a slower pace than in September, the Labor Department said on Tuesday (14 November 2023). Headline inflation reached a recent peak of 9.1% in June 2022. Stocks and government bonds rose sharply The rise in so-called core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy items, also showed that core [...]
US vs. China in an increasingly divided world economy
China passed a major milestone last autumn: For the first time since its economic opening more than four decades ago, it traded more with developing countries than the U.S., Europe and Japan combined. It was one of the clearest signals yet that China and the West are moving in different directions as tensions rise over trade, technology, security and [...]
Fed extends pause on rate hikes but keeps door open
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell hinted that the central bank could keep interest rates unchanged for now, but was careful not to rule out another hike after officials extended a pause in increases. Unanimous vote Officials voted unanimously to leave rates unchanged at a 22-year high. "The committee is proceeding cautiously," Powell said during a news conference, where he said nothing [...]