Breaking News
Sep 18, 2024
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The Federal Reserve lowered its key lending rate by 50 basis points, responding to the softening labor market and weakening inflation.
The rate-setting committee lowered the fed funds rate range to between 4.75% and 5.0%.
The committee also estimated that an additional 50 basis points are likely over the next two meetings before the end of the year, indicating that policymakers believe inflation has been tamed.
“The Committee has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent and judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals are roughly in balance,” noted the statement released by the Federal Open Market Committee.
The Federal Reserve lowered rates for the first time since March 2020 after holding rates at an elevated level for more than a year.
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Housing starts and completions in August rebounded sharply, according to the latest data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Seasonally adjusted housing starts rose 9.6% from the previous month to an annual rate of 1.356 million, and July starts were revised higher to 1.236 million.
Housing starts rose 3.9% from a year ago, driven by the increase in the South and in the West.
Seasonally adjusted building permits increased 4.9% from the previous month to 1.475 million, and July permits were revised to 1.406 million.
On an annual basis, building permits decreased 6.5% from an annual rate of 1.578 million in the month a year ago.
Housing completions in August rose 9.2% from the previous month to 1.788 million, and July completions were revised to 1.637 million.
On an annual basis, housing completions surged 30.2% from an annual rate of 1.373 million in the month a year ago.
Sep 17, 2024
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Retail and food services sales increased 0.1% from the previous month in August as consumers showed resilience despite growing anxieties about the economic slowdown.
The sales data adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects but not for inflation.
The monthly growth slowed sharply from the revised 1.1% increase in the previous month.
On an annual basis, retail sales growth eased to 2.1%, a slowdown in growth for the third month in a row, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Tuesday.
Retail trade sales were up 0.1% from July and up 2.0% from last year, and nonstore retail sales were up 7.8%, while sales at food services and drinking places were up 2.7%, respectively.
Sales at gasoline stores decreased 1.2% following the fall in gasoline prices, and electronics and appliance store sales eased 0.7%.
Meanwhile, retail sales excluding food services, auto dealers, building materials stores, and gas stations, which are used to calculate GDP, were up 0.3%, following an upwardly revised 0.4% rise in July.
The Fed's lowering of inflation will only stoke inflationary forces in the months ahead, sending another ripple of higher prices.
Sep 11, 2024
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Consumer price inflation in August slipped for the fifth month in a row to 2.5%, largely because of the weakness in energy prices, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.
Energy costs declined 4% compared to a rise of 1% in the previous month, overshadowed by the increase in housing inflation to 5.2% from 5.1% in July.
On a monthly basis, inflation held steady at 0.2%, matching the rate in the previous month, driven by a 0.5% rise in shelter costs.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, steadied at a three-year low of 3.2%, indicating slow progress in weakening well-anchored inflation.
After the inflation report, investors still held out for at least a 25 basis points rate cut next week.
Despite the widely anticipated rate cut, inflation is well-anchored in the economy, and rates are far from restrictive, as the U.S. economy is still adding jobs above the long-term average and GDP is expanding at a faster rate than 2%.
Moreover, an interest rate cut is not likely to alter the long-term structural issues with the economy, international trade competitiveness, widening inequality, and entrenched poverty.