Breaking News: Economy

Retail sales rose 0.5% in March amid inflation jump; import prices hit 11-year high
Business

Retail sales rose 0.5% in March amid inflation jump; import prices hit 11-year high

Customers pushing shopping carts shop at a supermarket on April 12, 2022 in San Mateo County, California. Liu Guanguan | China News Service | Getty Images Consumers continued to spend in March even as inflation rose to its highest level since late 1981, according to government data released Thursday. Retail sales climbed 0.5% from the […]

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Fed’s Waller sees likelihood of multiple half-point interest rate hikes ahead
Finance

Fed’s Waller sees likelihood of multiple half-point interest rate hikes ahead

Getting inflation under control will require raising interest rates at a faster pace than normal even though the pace of price increases probably has peaked, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said Wednesday. That means the central bank likely will hike short-term rates by half a percentage point, or 50 basis points, at its meeting in […]

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Producer prices rose 11.2% from a year ago in March, the biggest gain on record
World

Producer prices rose 11.2% from a year ago in March, the biggest gain on record

The prices that goods and services producers receive rose in March at the fastest pace since records have been kept, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. The producer price index, which measures the prices paid by wholesalers, increased 11.2% from a year ago, the most in a data series going back to November 2010. […]

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Consumer prices rose 8.5% in March, slightly hotter than expected and the highest since 1981
World

Consumer prices rose 8.5% in March, slightly hotter than expected and the highest since 1981

Prices that consumers pay on everyday items surged in March to their highest levels since the early days of the Reagan administration, according to Labor Department data released Tuesday. The consumer price index, which measures a wide-ranging basket of goods and services, jumped 8.5% from a year ago on an unadjusted basis, above even the […]

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Here’s how the Fed raising interest rates can help get inflation lower, and why it could fail
World

Here’s how the Fed raising interest rates can help get inflation lower, and why it could fail

A customer shops at at a grocery store on February 10, 2022 in Miami, Florida. The Labor Department announced that consumer prices jumped 7.5% last month compared with 12 months earlier, the steepest year-over-year increase since February 1982. Joe Raedle | Getty Images The view that higher interest rates help stamp out inflation is essentially […]

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Fed’s Bullard says interest rate policy is ‘behind the curve,’ but it’s making progress
Finance

Fed’s Bullard says interest rate policy is ‘behind the curve,’ but it’s making progress

James Bullard Olivia Michael | CNBC The Federal Reserve needs to raise interest rates substantially to control inflation but may not be as “behind the curve” as it appears, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said Thursday. One of the Federal Open Market Committee’s most “hawkish” members in favor of tighter policy, Bullard said a […]

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Fed officials plan to shrink the balance sheet by  billion a month, meeting minutes indicate
World

Fed officials plan to shrink the balance sheet by $95 billion a month, meeting minutes indicate

Federal Reserve officials discussed how they want to reduce their trillions in bond holdings at the March meeting, with a consensus amount around $95 billion, minutes released Wednesday showed. Officials “generally agreed” that a limit of $60 billion in Treasurys and $35 billion in mortgage-backed securities would be allowed to roll off, phased in over […]

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Yellen warns that war in Ukraine will have ‘enormous’ global economic impact
World

Yellen warns that war in Ukraine will have ‘enormous’ global economic impact

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies before a House Financial Services Committee hearing on “the State of the International Financial System,” on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., April 6, 2022. Tom Brenner | Reuters Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen cautioned Wednesday that Russia’s attack on Ukraine could cause a major hit to the global economy. “Russia’s […]

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Watch Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speak live on the global financial system
Finance

Watch Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speak live on the global financial system

[The stream is slated to start at 10 a.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.] Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee on the state of international finance. In remarks prepared for the hearing, Yellen in particular noted the impact […]

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Key people from the Fed just spooked the markets —  here’s what they said
Finance

Key people from the Fed just spooked the markets — here’s what they said

The Federal Reserve building is seen before the Federal Reserve board is expected to signal plans to raise interest rates in March as it focuses on fighting inflation in Washington, January 26, 2022. Joshua Roberts | Reuters If there was any question about where the Federal Reserve stands on the key issue of the day […]

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