The Federal Reserve should cut interest rates this week for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, three Democratic senators said Monday in a letter to its chairman, Jerome Powell. “The Fed’s monetary policy is not helping to reduce inflation. Indeed, it is driving up housing and auto insurance costs — two … Read more
CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Friday guided investors through next week’s most market-moving events, highlighting the Federal Reserve’s meeting and the latest consumer price index report. “I’d be careful making a big move before the Fed meeting. We can’t be sure if Jay Powell won’t be more emphatic about leaving rates higher for longer given this … Read more
People shop at a supermarket in Montebello, California, on May 15, 2024. Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images Inflation is taking baby steps towards coming back to where policymakers want it, with a report due Friday expected to show more of that creeping progress. The Commerce Department’s measure of personal consumption expenditures prices … Read more
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell holds a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on interest rate policy in Washington, U.S., May 1, 2024. Kevin Lamarque | Reuters Federal Reserve officials grew more concerned at their most recent meeting about inflation, with members indicating that they lacked the confidence … Read more
People walk past a Sweetgreen restaurant in Manhattan on September 14, 2023. Jeenah Moon | The Washington Post | Getty Images With higher prices and elevated interest rates stubbornly sticking around, Chipotle burrito bowls and European vacations are still on the table for many consumers. But Big Macs and kitchen remodels aren’t. The most recent … Read more
A view shows the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., May 9, 2024. Kaylee Greenlee Beal | Reuters Government debt that has swelled nearly 50% since the early days of the Covid pandemic is generating elevated levels of worry both on Wall Street and in Washington. The federal IOU is now at $34.5 trillion, or about … Read more
Higher-income consumers may be creating a frothy situation at Walmart. Even though affluent shoppers helped drive the retailer’s latest beat on quarterly results, former Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon warns they’ll be hard to keep. “The Walmart experience is better than it used to be, but it’s still not a premium experience. Walmart is built … Read more
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated Tuesday that inflation is falling more slowly than expected and will keep the central bank on hold for an extended period. Speaking to the annual general meeting of the Foreign Bankers’ Association in Amsterdam, the central bank leader noted that the rapid disinflation that happened in 2023 has slowed … Read more
It’s an exchange-traded fund designed to profit from higher rates. But even if the Federal Reserve starts to cut this year, Horizon Kinetics’ James Davolos thinks his firm’s Inflation Beneficiaries ETF (INFL) is in a sweet spot. “We’re actually going into the mature phase of inflation,” the firm’s portfolio manager Davolos told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” … Read more
Consumer sentiment slumped as inflation expectations rose, despite otherwise strong signals in the economy, according to a closely watched survey released Friday. The University of Michigan Survey of Consumers sentiment index for May posted an initial reading of 67.4 for May, down from 77.2 in April and well off the Dow Jones consensus call for … Read more
