Tag: Inflation (Economics)

Inflation, Disinflation and Vibeflation

Over the past six months, the personal consumption expenditure deflator excluding food and energy — I know that’s a mouthful, but it’s the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of underlying inflation — has risen at an annual rate of only 2.5 percent, down from 5.7 percent in March 2022. The Fed’s inflation target is 2 percent, […]

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At COP28, More Than 20 Nations Pledge to Triple Nuclear Capacity

The United States and 21 other countries pledged on Saturday at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050, saying the revival of nuclear power was critical for cutting carbon emissions to near zero in the coming decades. Proponents of nuclear energy, which supplies 18 percent of electricity in […]

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S&P 500 Hits 2023 Record, Reversing Summer Losses

After several twists and turns this year, stock investors are in a celebratory mood. The S&P 500 set a new high for the year on Friday, a day after clocking its best month of 2023 in November, in a rally that quickly erased the benchmark index’s steep drop over the summer. The reversal has come […]

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More States Now Require Financial Literacy Classes in High Schools

A flurry of states now require financial literacy classes for high school students, covering topics like budgeting, saving and managing debt. Just seven states — Alabama, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia — earned an A grade, meaning they require students to take a semester-long personal finance course, or its equivalent, on a “report […]

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Jerome Powell Says It’s Too Soon to Guess When Rates Will Drop

Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, suggested on Friday that the central bank may be done raising interest rates if inflation and the economy continue to cool as expected, saying that central bankers could raise interest rates further if that became necessary. “It would be premature to conclude with confidence that we […]

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Donald Trump Still Wants to Kill Obamacare. Why?

Donald Trump hasn’t talked much about policy in this election cycle, except for vague assertions that he’ll somehow bring back low unemployment and low inflation — which, by the way, has already happened. (Unemployment has been at or below 4 percent for almost two years. Thursday’s report on consumer spending showed the Federal Reserve’s preferred […]

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The Fed’s Preferred Inflation Measure Eased in October

A closely watched measure of inflation showed continued signs of fading in October, encouraging news for the Federal Reserve as officials try to gauge whether they need to take further action in order to fully stamp out rapid price increases. The Personal Consumption Expenditures inflation measure, which the Fed cites when it says it aims […]

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Kenya’s Leader Lifts His Global Profile. At Home, the Public Fumes.

He has taken dozens of trips abroad boosting his credentials on climate change, while raising taxes at home. He pledged to send his country’s police to quash gang violence in Haiti, though they stand accused of brutality at home. And he recently hosted an eight-course state dinner for King Charles III, amid skyrocketing food and […]

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Corporate America Has Dodged the Damage of High Rates. For Now.

The prediction was straightforward: A rapid rise in interest rates orchestrated by the Federal Reserve would confine consumer spending and corporate profits, sharply reducing hiring and cooling a red-hot economy. But it hasn’t worked out quite the way forecasters expected. Inflation has eased, but the biggest companies in the country have avoided the damage of […]

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Fed Officials Hint That Rate Increases Are Over, and Investors Celebrate

Federal Reserve officials appear to be dialing back the chances of future interest rate increases, after months in which they have carefully kept the possibility of further policy changes alive for fear that inflation would prove stubborn. Several Fed officials — including two who often push for higher interest rates — hinted on Tuesday that […]

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Even Most Biden Voters Don’t See a Thriving Economy

It’s difficult for presidents to directly control inflation in the short term. But the White House has addressed a few specific costs that matter for families, by releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to contain surging oil prices in late 2022, for example. The Inflation Reduction Act reduced prescription drug prices under Medicare and […]

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There’s a Lot Riding on Black Friday and Cyber Monday

The consumer is back — but for how long? Black Friday and today’s Cyber Monday shopping bonanzas hold outsize political significance this year with the retailing events emerging as key recession and inflation indicators. So far, so good. Bargain hunters turned out in force for Black Friday sales, and Cyber Monday is forecast to be […]

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Turkey Raises Interest Rates to 40 Percent to Tame Runaway Inflation

Turkey’s central bank has raised interest rates to 40 percent, its highest level in nearly two decades, in a significant move to tame the country’s runaway inflation after the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had previously defied economic convention by cutting rates to slow price increases. The increase of 5 percentage points on Thursday, which […]

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Argentina’s Economy Depends on the U.S. Dollar. Can Javier Milei Change That?

Marcelo Capobianco was inspecting the calf carcass he had just hung from a hook in his small butcher shop outside Buenos Aires on Tuesday when he admitted that the premium-grade beef would hardly earn him anything. That’s because since his preferred candidate, Javier Milei, won Argentina’s presidency two days earlier, the cost of the meat […]

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Black Friday Isn’t What It Used to Be

Black Friday was once a hallmark celebration of American consumerism. Lately, it has lost some of its thunder. It’s true that shoppers looking for big discounts can still line up early at Macy’s or Best Buy on the day after Thanksgiving, in hopes of snagging a bargain. But for many, the bargain has already been […]

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As Holiday Shopping Season Begins, Retailers Worry

Christina Beck is approaching this holiday season cautiously. Ms. Beck, a 58-year-old administrative director at a school, makes lists of gifts she plans to buy for her family and friends and sticks with it. But her spending this year will be kept in check by the high cost of food in grocery stores and restaurants, […]

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Fed Officials Thought Rates Could Rise More if Inflation Stayed Stubborn

Federal Reserve officials are contemplating whether they will need to raise interest rates again to cool the economy and ensure that rapid inflation will fully fade, and minutes from their meeting earlier this month laid out the contours of that debate. “Participants noted that further tightening of monetary policy would be appropriate if incoming information […]

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Want to Know What’s Bedeviling Biden? TikTok Economics May Hold Clues.

Look at economic data, and you’d think that young voters would be riding high right now. Unemployment remains low. Job opportunities are plentiful. Inequality is down, wage growth is finally beating inflation, and the economy has expanded rapidly this year. Look at TikTok, and you get a very different impression — one that seems more […]

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The Fed’s Decisions Now Could Alter the 2024 Elections

What’s happening in the economy now will have a big effect — perhaps, a decisive one — on the presidential election and control of Congress in 2024. To a remarkable extent, the economy is what matters to voters, so much so that one long-running election model relies on economic data to produce accurate predictions without […]

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Retailers Wary of Squeeze on Shoppers Ahead of Key Holiday Season

Days ahead of the start of the holiday shopping season, several major retailers expressed caution about consumers during the busiest selling period of the year. Walmart, the largest retailer in the United States, said on Thursday that sales rose about 5 percent in its latest quarter, which ran through late October, versus the previous year. […]

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U.K. Inflation Slows to 4.6 Percent, Lowest in Two Years

Digging Deeper: Lower energy bills are driving down inflation. Last year, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine made wholesale energy prices soar, but price caps on bills in Britain meant that households felt these increases with a lag. The same has been true as wholesale prices have dropped this year. In October, the inflation rate was pulled […]

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Stock Market Rallies After CPI Inflation Report

Stocks soared on Tuesday, after an inflation reading raised hopes that the Federal Reserve’s campaign to slow inflation may have reached its limits. The S&P 500 rose 1.9 percent on Tuesday, while the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies’ stocks, which are more exposed to the ups and downs of the economy, climbed roughly 5 […]

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An Optimistic Inflation Report Reduces Pressure on the Fed to Raise Rates

Inflation eased in October and price increases showed encouraging signs of slowing under the surface, according to fresh data released on Tuesday. The report provided the Federal Reserve with renewed evidence that its battle against rapid inflation is working — and likely reduced the need for further rate increases. The overall Consumer Price Index slowed […]

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Sharp Drop in Airfares Cheers Inflation-Weary Travelers

Airfares to many popular destinations have recently fallen to their lowest levels in months, and even holiday travel is far cheaper than it was last year, providing some welcome relief to consumers who have been frustrated for months by high prices for all manner of goods and services. The glut of deals suggests that the […]

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Bad Feelings About the Economy Sour Arizona Voters on Biden

If President Biden hopes to replicate his narrow victory in Arizona, he will need disillusioned voters like Alex Jumah. An immigrant from Iraq, Mr. Jumah leans conservative, but he said he voted for Mr. Biden because he could not stomach former President Trump’s anti-Muslim views. That was 2020. Since then, Mr. Jumah, 41, said, his […]

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Biden and a Feel-Bad Economy

Since Tuesday’s big Democratic electoral victories, I’ve been seeing some speculation to the effect that the 2024 election may be marked by a reverse coattail effect: that President Biden, whose poll numbers have supposedly been weighed down by a bad economy, may be lifted up by local candidates who have been racking up wins over […]

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Fed Chair Recalls Inflation ‘Head Fakes,’ Pledges to Do More if Needed

Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, on Thursday expressed little urgency to make another interest rate increase. But he made clear that policymakers remain willing to adjust policy further if doing so proves necessary to cool the economy and fully restrain inflation. Mr. Powell and his Fed colleagues left their interest rates […]

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‘Morning in America’ Eludes Biden, Despite Economic Gains

President Ronald Reagan rode a “Morning in America” message to a blowout re-election victory in 1984, based partly on warm feelings about his economic performance. Today’s economy is similar in many ways to Mr. Reagan’s as he entered that campaign, with one big difference: There is widespread voter angst over the incumbent’s economic stewardship. A […]

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Huge Reversal in Bonds and Rally in Stocks Cap Wild Week for Markets

Stocks and bonds rallied on Friday, extending a sharp reversal after fresh data about the health of the U.S. labor market capped a tumultuous week for investors. The 10-year government bond yield, which underpin rates on everything from mortgages to business loans, dropped more than 0.1 percentage points on Friday, another large decline for a […]

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Some are gloomy, but the overall economic picture remains bright.

Nov. 3, 2023, 6:30 a.m. ET Nov. 3, 2023, 6:30 a.m. ET Many employers are still struggling to find available workers, but the labor market is loosening. At the same time, companies are balancing cost concerns — especially as interest rates remain elevated — with the need to entice employees. Overall, labor market churn has […]

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