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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As government officials testify before congressional committees on the fallout from recent banking collapses, a major question looms: What will this mean for the economy? Federal Reserve officials have been clear that they expect a slowdown in bank lending tied to the tumult to weigh on economic growth this year, but the magnitude is uncertain. […]
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Gail Collins: Bret, I have to admit that when the subject of Donald Trump comes up these days, I tend to start telling sex-scandal stories. My bad. Bret Stephens: Don’t let me stand in your way. Gail: Right now, that very old Stormy Daniels mess seems to have produced some very scary stuff. Our former […]
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As a teenager in Southern California, Taylor Shupe confidently declared plans to one day lead a global company, an ambition that would surely bring him to China. By the time he was 15, he was studying Mandarin. During a college semester in China, Mr. Shupe lined up a factory that could make products for his […]
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Jim Tankersley contributed reporting. The Daily is made by Lisa Tobin, Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Dave Shaw, Sydney Harper, Robert Jimison, Mike Benoist, […]
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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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The transcript shows that he said “zero” was the proper target if “inflation was correctly measured.” But it is difficult to measure inflation accurately, as everyone in the room acknowledged. So Ms. Yellen said, “Improperly measured, I believe that heading toward 2 percent inflation would be a good idea, and that we should do so […]
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So I guess we’re in a new cold war. Leaders of both parties have become China hawks. There are rumblings of war over Taiwan. Xi Jinping vows to dominate the century. I can’t help wondering: What will this cold war look like? Will this one transform American society the way the last one did? The […]
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Banks are turning to the Federal Reserve’s loan programs to access funding as turmoil sweeps the financial system in the wake several high-profile bank failures. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on March 10 followed by Signature Bank on March 12 prompted depositors to pull their money from some banks and sent the stock prices […]
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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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WASHINGTON — In 2008, an imminent collapse of the banking system consumed Congress before lawmakers delivered a bailout. Three years later, a debt limit crisis enveloped Washington and led to a series of spending cuts after a dangerous brush with default and a first-ever downgrade in the nation’s credit rating. Now unease about the banking […]
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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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As Wall Street braces for the Federal Reserve to — probably — raise interest rates on Wednesday, some analysts have said that the recent turmoil in the banking industry may have already generated similar effects to a rate increase, namely by slowing the economy. The Fed began raising interest rates a year ago to combat […]
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The Federal Reserve faces a difficult decision at its meeting that ends this afternoon: Should Fed officials raise interest rates in response to worrisome recent inflation data — and accept the risk of causing further problems for banks? Or should officials pause their rate increases — and accept the risk that inflation will remain high? […]
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The fallout from the recent banking crisis spurred by the collapse of two banks — and concerns about the health of a third — is bubbling up in the market for commercial real estate lending, as borrowers fear that banks will pull back. That could slow down construction activity and increase the likelihood of a […]
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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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Quiet quitting. Working from home. The Great Resignation. Whatever you want to call it, the attitude of many Americans toward work appears to have changed during the long pandemic — and, generally speaking, not for the better. This new approach threatens to do long-lasting damage to economic growth and prosperity. Until Covid, most employed Americans […]
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WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen expressed confidence in the nation’s banks on Tuesday and said she was committed to keeping them sound, seeking to calm nerves as the U.S. financial system faces its worst turmoil in more than a decade. “The situation is stabilizing,” Ms. Yellen said in prepared remarks to be delivered […]
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WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will warn on Monday that a warming planet poses severe economic challenges for the United States, which will require the federal government to reassess its spending priorities and how it influences behavior. Administration economists, in an annual report, will say that reassessment should include a new look at the climate-adaptation […]
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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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The Federal Reserve entered 2023 focused on a central goal: wrestling down the rapid inflation that has plagued American consumers since 2021. But over the past two weeks, that job has become a lot more complicated. Many economists expect central bankers to raise interest rates a quarter-point, to just above 4.75 percent, on Wednesday, continuing […]
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WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve and other major global central banks on Sunday announced that they would work to make sure dollars remain readily available across the global financial system as bank blowups in America and banking issues in Europe create a strain. The Fed, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank […]
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Financial Regulators Turned Out to Be Fighting the Last War In 2015, Greg Becker, the chief executive of Silicon Valley Bank, submitted testimony to the Senate Banking Committee arguing that the Dodd-Frank financial regulation rules should be loosened for banks like his. If they weren’t, Becker warned, Silicon Valley Bank “likely will need to divert […]
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The events of the past week have proven that smaller bank oversight, regulation or both should be improved. Clearly, risk-management functions, on-site supervision, and the qualifications and role of boards of directors should be evaluated. The $250,000 limit on deposit insurance should be raised, perhaps substantially to at least $2 million but perhaps as much […]
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The U.S. economic recovery has repeatedly defied predictions of an impending recession, withstanding supply-chain backlogs, labor shortages, global conflicts and the fastest increase in interest rates in decades. That resilience now faces a new test: a banking crisis that, at times over the past week, seemed poised to turn into a full-blown financial meltdown as […]
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A tentative sense of relief prevailed among investors on Friday morning following two very different financial rescues the day before: one of a global banking giant in Switzerland and another of a midsize regional lender in San Francisco. The moves to shore up the flailing lenders with injections worth tens of billions of dollars had […]
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Earlier this year, millions of Americans got a notice: Your food budget is about to be cut, potentially by hundreds of dollars a month. Here are some tips on how you can manage. You can’t appeal. The notices signaled the coming end of a federal increase in food stamps that started in the early days […]
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It was a week of market turmoil that began with the collapse of a small bank in the United States, spiraled into a panic about the global financial system and ended with a bold effort to stanch the cascading crisis. And it was the clearest illustration yet of the dangerous side effects of campaigns by […]
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WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is preparing to impose some of the first new rules in a generation to restrict or ban an array of toxic chemicals that are widely used in manufacturing, presenting the White House with tough choices between its economic agenda and public health. Many of the substances in question are important […]
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WASHINGTON — If a number defined the 2010s, it was 2 percent. Inflation, annual economic growth, and interest rates at their highest all hovered around that level — so persistently that economists, the Federal Reserve and Wall Street began to bet that the era of low-everything would last. That bet has gone bad. And with […]
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Upheaval in financial markets continued on Thursday, as investors balanced pockets of turmoil emanating from the banking industry against some semblance of stability returning to the broader market. The S&P 500 opened with a drop, before quickly rallying to a gain of more than 1 percent by midday. The Stoxx 600 index, which tracks shares […]
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