Surging gas prices and sky-high mortgages and rent sent inflation rising more than expected in March, adding to Americans’ prolonged and painful battle with high costs. That could force the Federal Reserve to keep its punishing rates higher for longer. US consumer prices picked up again last month, vaulting to a 3.5% increase for the […]
Tag: interest rates
The math for buying a home no longer adds up
Homeownership has become a pipe dream for more Americans, even those who could afford to buy just a few years ago. Many would-be buyers were already feeling stretched thin by home prices that shot quickly higher in the pandemic, but at least mortgage rates were low. Now that they are high, many people are just […]
Interest Rates poised to go up says Fed Chief
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Friday inflation is still too high, and he warned that restoring price stability will likely require an extended period of elevated interest rates. Speaking to a gathering of economists and central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Powell said it’s encouraging that inflation has cooled — from 9.1% last […]
Will another bank bite the dust? Pacwest seeks help
Another regional bank is reportedly considering a sale or other moves. Bloomberg reported Wednesday that PacWest Bancorp is mulling those options. The California-headquartered bank has not seen an official process for an auction kickoff so far, according to the report. The outlet attributed the information to unnamed sources “familiar with the matter.” Those sources reportedly […]
New Car loans are getting impossible to pay
You’ve managed to buy the car, but can you afford to keep paying for it? Along with soaring car prices, loan rates are the most expensive they’ve been in more than 15 years, with the average monthly payment on a new car at an all-time high, new data from auto website Edmunds shows. The result […]
U.S. job market is cooling
The U.S. job market is showing signs of softening as rising interest rates and slowing economic growth begin to take their toll on hiring. Employers added 236,000 jobs in March, according to a report from the Labor Department Friday. That’s down from 326,000 jobs that were added the month before. The unemployment rate dipped to […]
Will the Fed’s move this week prove disastrous?
The lightning collapse of three banks and financial industry rescue of a fourth has put a spotlight on the Federal Reserve’s decision next week over whether to continue raising interest rates. Just two weeks after Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested rates could rise even higher than previously projected in a bid to quash inflation, many […]
Inflation surges in January, Dow drops 400
The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge rose last month at its fastest pace since June, an alarming sign that price pressures remain entrenched in the U.S. economy and could lead the Fed to keep raising interest rates well into this year. Friday’s report from the Commerce Department showed that consumer prices rose 0.6% from December […]
U.S. Housing market locked in a deep freeze
The sharp increase in mortgage rates has cast a chill on the housing market. Many buyers have paused their search; they can longer afford home prices they were considering a year ago. Sellers are also wary of listing their homes because of the high mortgage rates that would loom over their next purchase. “People are […]
Fed is poised for another jumbo interest rate hike
The Federal Reserve is expected to order another big boost in interest rates Wednesday, as questions bubble up about how much higher borrowing costs will have to go before stubborn inflation starts to come down. The central bank has already raised its benchmark interest rate by 3 percentage points since March, and it’s expected to […]
Fed raises interest rate .75%; will recession follow?
The Federal Reserve made history on Wednesday, approving a third consecutive 75-basis-point hike in an aggressive move to tackle the white-hot inflation that has been plaguing the US economy. The supersized hike, which was unfathomable by markets just months ago, takes the central bank’s benchmark lending rate to a new target range of 3%-3.25%. That’s […]
Economic pain ahead warns Fed’s Powell
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday delivered a stark message on the state of the U.S. economy at the annual central bank gathering in Wyoming: Inflation remains painfully high, and cooling it will require forceful action that could soon bring “pain” to households and businesses nationwide. In his hotly anticipated speech at the Kansas […]