Employers are hiring rapidly. Home prices are rising nationally after months of decline. Consumer spending climbed more than expected in a recent data release. America’s economy is not experiencing the drastic slowdown that many analysts had expected in light of the Federal Reserve’s 15-month, often aggressive campaign to hit the brakes on growth and bring […]
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Wage growth ticked up in April, good news for American workers but bad news for officials at the Federal Reserve, who have been hoping to see a steady moderation in pay gains as they try to wrestle inflation back under control. Average hourly earnings climbed by 4.4 percent in the year through April. That compared […]
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Wage growth picked up in April, good news for American workers but bad news for officials at the Federal Reserve, who have been hoping to see a steady moderation in pay gains as they try to wrestle inflation back under control. Average hourly earnings climbed by 4.4 percent in the year through April. That compared […]
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The Federal Reserve’s push to slow the economy and bring inflation under control is often compared to an airplane descent, one that could end in a soft landing, a bumpy one or an outright crash. Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, is betting on something more akin to the Miracle on the Hudson: a touchdown […]
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Federal Reserve officials raised interest rates by a quarter-point on Wednesday, the 10th straight increase in an aggressive campaign to tame rapid inflation. But they also opened the door to a pause as their policies combine with bank turmoil to weigh down the economy. Central bankers lifted rates to a range of 5 to 5.25 […]
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Banks in focus as the Fed weighs its rates move If market predictions are correct, the Fed on Wednesday will raise borrowing costs by a quarter of a percentage point, even as growing turmoil in the stocks of regional banks threatens to choke off credit to businesses and consumers, pushing the economy into recession. The […]
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Federal Reserve officials are set to release an interest rate decision on Wednesday afternoon, and while investors widely expect policymakers to lift borrowing costs by a quarter-point, they will be watching carefully for any hint at what might come next. This would be the central bank’s 10th consecutive interest rate increase — capping the fastest […]
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WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve officials are widely expected to lift borrowing costs by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, the 10th consecutive rate increase since March 2022. But investors and economists think that this could be the central bank’s last move before it pauses. Fed officials face a complicated backdrop going into this […]
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The banking crisis may not be over. True, regulators seized First Republic Bank early on Monday and sold it to JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s biggest bank. But other regional banks are still bleeding deposits. And the Federal Reserve is still putting pressure on the banks by raising interest rates, which tempts depositors to take out […]
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WASHINGTON — Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who is preparing to take a widely anticipated leap into a 2024 presidential campaign, appears to have discovered something that populists throughout history have found to be true: Bashing the Federal Reserve is good politics. Mr. DeSantis has begun to criticize Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, in […]
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Despite the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the shock waves it sent through the banking sector — due, in part, to the bank’s risky exposure to higher interest rates — the Federal Reserve raised interest rates again, the ninth increase in the past year. Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Fed, has made one […]
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The measure of inflation most closely watched by the Federal Reserve slowed substantially in February, an encouraging sign for policymakers as they consider whether to raise interest rates further to slow the economy and bring price increases under control. The Personal Consumption Expenditures Index cooled to 5 percent on an annual basis in February, down […]
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Beating inflation is crucial for the Federal Reserve. But so is promoting full employment. And don’t forget about preserving the stability of the financial system. Each of these goals is exemplary on its own. Put them all together in the current environment, however, and you get head-spinning problems. By tightening financial conditions enough to curb […]
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On March 10, just hours after Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, the hedge fund manager Bill Ackman hosted a dinner for about 20 people at his penthouse apartment in Manhattan. The dinner had been planned, and the boldface names were there to discuss Ukraine. But before talk turned to the war, Mr. Ackman sought out the […]
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In the typically tame market for government bonds, investors have been left reeling from some of the most chaotic trading conditions they have ever seen, entrenching concerns about the broader economy since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. It’s the kind of trading that makes the often more turbulent stock market seem calm: While the […]
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WASHINGTON — The chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome H. Powell, has repeatedly undercut a central claim Republicans make as they seek sharp cuts in federal spending: Government spending is driving the nation’s still-hot inflation rate. Republican lawmakers say spending programs signed into law by President Biden are pumping too much money into the economy […]
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No clear path on helping banks U.S. banking regulators gave investors a lot to chew on yesterday. The Federal Reserve went ahead with a quarter-point increase in interest rates, signaling that, for now, it remained more worried about inflation than banking stability. But while Jerome Powell, the central bank’s chair, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen […]
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WASHINGTON — Two of the nation’s top economic policymakers on Wednesday said they were focused on determining how the failure of Silicon Valley Bank had happened and suggested changes to federal regulation and oversight might be needed to prevent future runs on American banks. The discussion of stricter oversight by Jerome H. Powell, the Federal […]
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How the Fed’s projections for future interest rates have evolved A chart with an animated line that shows the evolution of the federal funds target rate from March 2018 to March 2023. As the line animates, boxes appear that show the range of Federal Open Market Committee members’ projections for future rates. As of March […]
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WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday on whether to raise rates at a precarious moment carries risks not just for the central bank, but also for President Biden. Mr. Biden was already relying on the Fed to maintain a delicate balance with its interest rate decisions, simultaneously taming rapid price growth while avoiding plunging the […]
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A momentous Fed decision The failures of Silicon Valley Bank and three other lenders over the past 11 days has put the Fed in a difficult position as it prepares to deliver on Wednesday one of the most consequential decisions on interest rates of the Jay Powell era. The central bank chief was already under […]
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Bret Stephens: Hi, Gail. I guess we have to talk about Donald Trump’s potential indictment and arrest, right? But before we go there: You know how I told you that I’d vote for Ron DeSantis over Joe Biden? Well, never mind. Gail Collins: Bret! You’re gonna vote for our big-spending president? Student-loan forgiver? Tax-the-richer? Bret: […]
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WASHINGTON — Silicon Valley Bank’s risky practices were on the Federal Reserve’s radar for more than a year — an awareness that proved insufficient to stop the bank’s demise. The Fed repeatedly warned the bank that it had problems, according to a person familiar with the matter. In 2021, a Fed review of the growing […]
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WASHINGTON — As U.S. regulators prepared to announce an extraordinary government rescue of depositors at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank on Sunday, officials from the Biden administration pushed to formally spotlight shortcomings in financial regulation that they blamed for the banks’ rapid descent to insolvency, according to several people involved in or close to […]
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WASHINGTON — On Friday afternoon, the deputy Treasury secretary, Wally Adeyemo, met with Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Company, at Mr. Dimon’s office in New York. The Biden administration and the Federal Reserve were considering what would be the most aggressive emergency intervention in the banking system since the 2008 financial […]
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Customers of Silicon Valley Bank aren’t going to lose any of their deposits. Neither will the businesses or individuals who have money at Signature Bank. That resolution, however, doesn’t make the upheaval of the last several days any less scary. As stocks of banks like First Republic and even brokerage industry stalwarts like Charles Schwab […]
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The Federal Reserve’s hotly-anticipated March 22 interest rate decision is just a week and a half away, and the drama that swept the banking and financial sector over the weekend is drastically shaking up expectations for what the central bank will deliver. The Fed had been raising interest rates rapidly to try to contain the […]
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Why Silicon Valley Bank, though? What made it especially vulnerable? One reason is that many of its loans are in the tech sector, which as you may have heard is hurting. Another, perhaps more important reason is that it relies heavily on deposits from institutions rather than individuals. The people who run companies, investment funds […]
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Federal Reserve officials received a complicated signal from February’s employment report, which showed that job growth retained substantial momentum nearly a year into the central bank’s campaign to slow the economy and cool rapid inflation. But it also included details hinting that the softening the Fed has been trying to achieve may be coming. Policymakers […]
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The debate on Wall Street over the prospects for the American economy moved decidedly back toward the gloomy this week, as investors again recalibrated their expectations for how high interest rates could go. The shift came after the Federal Reserve’s chair, Jerome H. Powell, speaking to lawmakers on Tuesday, said the central bank might have […]
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The director of the budget office, Phillip L. Swagel, briefed lawmakers about deficit projections on Wednesday at the Capitol, warning they would eventually need to raise taxes, cut spending or both in order to mitigate rising debt. The office’s projections “suggest that, over the long term, changes in fiscal policy would need to be made […]
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