Washington: The speed at which US inflation is easing means it will likely be appropriate for the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates over the summer, a senior Fed official said Thursday. The US central bank recently pencilled in three interest rate cuts this year, but did not say when it would begin reducing … Read more
U.S. Treasury yields inched lower on Thursday after the latest inflation data was in line with predictions. The 10-year Treasury yield fell nearly 4 basis points to 4.236%. The yield on the 2-year Treasury declined almost 2 basis points to 4.629%. Yields and prices have an inverted relationship and one basis point equals 0.01%. January’s … Read more
Have you recently noticed fewer potato chips in your bag, or a little less toilet paper on your roll? Democrats in Congress have noticed, too. A handful of senators introduced a new bill Wednesday meant to crack down on “shrinkflation.” That’s when companies reduce the amount of product in a package but keep the price … Read more
Inflation has hit most of the economy, but that’s hardly the case with airfare. Not only are airfares down 6% year-over-year based on January 2024 prices, but they’re even down 15% versus a decade ago. That’s according to consumer price index data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published in February. Some experts predict … Read more
Underlying US inflation probably rose in January by the most in a year, as tracked by the Federal Reserve’s preferred metric, highlighting the long and bumpy path to taming price pressures. The core personal consumption expenditures price index, which excludes food and energy costs, is seen rising 0.4% from a month earlier. That would mark … Read more
Wall Street returned to its winning ways this week â and Nvidia ‘s blowout earnings report Wednesday night was a big reason why. All three major U.S. stock benchmarks closed the holiday-shortened week higher, led by the S & P 500 , which rose 1.66% and ended Friday at a record high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq … Read more
Investor sentiment toward intermediate-term Treasury bonds may be changing. Schwab Asset Management’s David Botset is seeing more flows into bonds with maturity rates typically between three and five years â and sometimes out to 10 years. “People are starting to realize that we’re kind of at the peak of interest rate increases,” the firm’s head … Read more
New York Federal Reserve President John Williams sees the U.S. central bank on track to cut interest rates “later this year,” despite stronger-than-expected inflation and labor market data in January, according to an interview with Axios. “My overall view of the economy basically hasn’t changed based on one month of data,” Williams said in an … Read more
Mumbai: Temporary food shocks, fiscal consolidation and high real interest rates have created the scope for reduction in policy interest rates, said external members of the Monetary Policy Committee, but those from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) believe that the markets are running ahead of policy makers. Prof. J.R. Varma, who voted for a … Read more
The European Central Bank recorded its first loss in two decades following an unprecedented ramp-up in borrowing costs to tackle inflation. The shortfall for 2023 – even after the full release of ₹6.6 billion ($7.2 billion) in risk provisions – totalled ₹1.27 billion, as rising interest rates increased the cost of past stimulus efforts. While … Read more
