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The three big unknowns will drive the markets in the future
US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the disinflation we have seen so far hasn’t come at the expense of a weaker labour market. “Reducing inflation is unlikely to require a sustained period of below-trend growth…We may have to raise rates more if we get stronger labour market reports and higher inflation reports,” he added.
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A sudden shift in global wealth will take a number of years to recover from.
Mortgage application activity sunk to a quarter-century low this week as high mortgage rates continue to weaken the housing market, said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. ” overall application activity declined last week, despite lower rates,” MBA’s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist Joel Kan said. The slowdown in housing activity and higher mortgage…
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A survey finds that Americans are dissatisfied with the state of things in the US.
US Federal Reserve President Janet Yellen said that it’s an “accurate read” that she wants to remain in the post for another term. Yellen told CNN that she wanted to stay into next year as the US economy is “strong”. “The data released yesterday underscored the strength of the US economy as policy makers urgently…
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America’s housing dream is not viable.
The US Federal Reserve said that it expects the Unemployment Rate to rise to 4% next year. “The labour share of income… appears to be at or below pre-pandemic levels, while corporate profits as a share of GDP remain near postwar highs,” Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard said. “The Fed board now thinks PCE inflation…
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It is not likely that we will have a repeat of 2008 in a few years.
US home prices dropped for the fifth month in a row in November as rising mortgage rates pushed prospective buyers out of the housing market late last year. US mortgage rates topped 7% last month for the first time since 2002. Mortgage rates in 25 major cities have gone up on average since last year,…
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Will Americans see an improvement in the economy?
While the US economy grew at 2.2% in the third quarter of 2022, it’s still not in a recession, the Atlanta Fed said in its GDPNow report. The GDPNow estimate for the third quarter of 2021 was 2.3%. This comes after the unemployment rate stood at 3.8% for the month of August, the fifth straight…
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There are five reasons to be cautiously optimistic in the year of 2023.
The US’ private-sector payrolls increased by 225,000 in December, according to a government report on Friday. This is the highest increase in hiring since October 2021 and it comes as the unemployment rate fell to a half-century low of 3.6%. However, the increase in payrolls was more than the 235,000 economists had expected.
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This year, there is what to expect in the housing market.
The unemployment rate in the US rose to 5.2% in November, according to the government’s estimate, its highest level in over six years. The unemployment rate in Japan, a major market for US goods, stood at 3.5% in November, its highest since January 2014. In the EU, the unemployment rate stood at 10.8% in November,…
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Rates will be raised by the Fed.
The Atlanta Fed’s President David Rubenstein has said that “there is a lot of people” who think the US will likely head into a recession next year. However, he also said that “we have a fighting chance of getting through the next year without an economic downturn”. He added that inflation is “coming in herepretty…
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What’s going up is starting to come down.
Consumer prices in the US rose 7.1% in November from a year ago, down from 7.7% in October, according to official data. The surge in consumer prices followed a 9.1% increase in June. The annual increases for both the PCE inflation index and Producer Price Index (PPI) hit their lowest levels since October 2021.
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A tiny village is being affected by Germany’s new hunger for coal.
Germany is facing an economic contraction as high energy prices remain high, ING Germany’s chief economist said. The country is likely to have to pay high prices next year as it will not have a regular supply of Russian gas, assuming people and businesses cut back on consumption in the winter, according to a report…
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What goes up is starting to go down.
The prices of food and petrol were among the biggest winners in the US this year, with the inflation rate climbing to its highest in over a year. The Producer Price Index for final Consumers rose by 5.8% in October compared with a year ago. This was the lowest monthly gain in more than a…
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A study says that as global temperatures rise,Antarctica’s penguins could disappear.
The Emperor Penguin has been listed as a Threatened species in the US under the Endangered Species Act due to climate change. The Emperor Penguin is the largest breeding colony of the 18 penguin species in Antarctica, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). “The benefits of doing somethingabout climate change is good…
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The job growth in the U.S. remains strong.
The US unemployment rate fell to 5% in October, falling below 5% for the first time in nearly four years, as more people entered the labour market. The economy added 165,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate dipped to 4%, the lowest since July 2015. Economists predict that the unemployment rate will fall to…
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German industry is being harmed by rocketing energy costs.
Germany will use “at least” two and a half months’ worth of natural gas, according to an economist at London School of Economics. He said that the reserves are currently over 100% so they will last for at least two and a half months. However, he also said that energy prices remained high and there…
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Unemployment could make a house price slump worse.
The pace of year-over-year price increases in the US slowed for the first time this year in September, according to a government report. The pace of year-over-year price increases grew at an annual rate of 3.3%, compared with a 4.8% rise in August, the Bureau of Labour Statistics said. This comes amid rising mortgage rates…
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Jeff Bezos has top tips to deal with the economic downturn.
US Federal Reserve’s Chairman Jerome Powell has said the US has a “fighting chance of getting through the next year without an economic downturn”. “We have inflation coming in here pretty fast, consumers still have cash and middle and high-income consumers are spending and businesses are reluctant to lay off workers because their number one…
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California has a proposal that reduces costs and pays less.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted to remove the incentive for rooftop solar that led to the state being the largest solar market in the US. Under the proposal, the compensation payment would be reduced from $3 to $2 a month for each watt of solar that is generated. However, current panel owners can…
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In New York and Hong Kong, the Chinese stocks have fallen to multi-year lows.
The Chinese economy has seen its biggest contraction since May last year as the COVID-19 pandemic hit consumer spending. Investment in the property sector, which accounts for over 30% of China’s GDP, plunged 9.8% in the first 11 months of the year. It was the worst contraction in retail spending since May, when widespread lockdowns,…
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What will happen at the Fed meeting this week?
A group of US senators urged the Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates to avoid slowing down the economy to a crawl. “We’re deeply concerned that your interest rate hikes risk slowing the economy to a crawl while failing to slow rising prices that continue to harm families,” they wrote to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
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Inflation is not good news for the Fed and White House.
US’ inflation rate rose in November to its highest level in nearly two years, according to the government’s Consumer Price Index data. This comes a week after the US Federal Reserve announced that it would hike interest rates for the sixth consecutive time this year and the fourth in a row. The inflation rate rose…
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Markets will not go back to normal until the Fed stops hiking rates.
The US Federal Reserve may be able to make a dovish pivot on interest rates by the end of the year with the help of the October inflation numbers, an economist said. Last week’s unemployment rate may have been too low for investors’ liking, but it’s important to remember how much growth has slowed since…
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New ways to measure economic growth are being developed.
UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) economist Pushpam Kumar has said that GDP growth “can also come at the expense of progress towards other goals, such as climate and biodiversity action”. He added that GDP growth “can also come at the expense of progress towards other goals, such as climate and biodiversity action”. Kumar directed UNEP’s Inclusive…
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The Fed is going to raise rates again.
US Federal Reserve has said it will not hesitate to hike interest rates if the job market does not improve. It further said that it wants to keep everyone’s job and not hike consumer prices too high, so that it can take a break from the heat of the market. The US economy is growing…
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The price of gas in the US is cheaper than it was a year ago.
The personal consumption expenditure price index for the US rose 6.2% in August from a year ago, following a revised July reading of 6.4%, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Friday. The annual inflation rate for the PCE Price Index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, rose 6% in October versus a year ago.