The Federal Reserve chairman this week doused any hope homebuyers had that mortgage rates would soften anytime soon. Instead, rates jumped above 7% after Jerome Powell said inflation was taking longer to come down to the Fed’s intended target, a sign that any rate cuts investors were betting on may not arrive soon this year
U.S. Treasury yields fell slightly on Thursday as investors looked to fresh economic data and comments from Federal Reserve officials as they weighed the outlook for interest rates. At 4:27 a.m. ET, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was down by over one basis point to 4.5690%. The 2-year Treasury yield was last at 4.9198%
Stocks rose in what seemed like a straight line over the first three months of 2024 as the S&P 500 (^GSPC) notched its best first quarter return in five years. Since the start of April, it’s been a different story. The S&P 500 has dropped nearly 4% this month as investor hopes that the Federal
New residential construction, including single-family and multifamily homes, tumbled by the largest amount in four years as rising mortgage rates weaken housing activity. Housing starts fell 14.7% month over month in March, dropping from a 1.55 million units annualized pace to 1.32 million units annualized, according to data from the Census Bureau released Tuesday. Single-family
Fed Chair Jerome Powell is facing intensifying pressure as hotter-than-expected inflation complicates his coming interest rate decisions. The fact that both Joe Biden and Donald Trump weighed in this past week isn’t making it any easier. The situation has a historical parallel: the acute persuasion and coercion that Powell’s predecessors faced during twin bouts of
On Wall Street in the week ahead, investors’ major focus would be on inflation data for March and the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s March monetary policy meeting. Following last week’s strong jobs report that dented interest rate cut odds, investors will closely watch the consumer prices data and the Fed minutes for clues about
A bumpy week for the S&P 500 Index prompted long-complacent traders to look at the hedges they’ve ignored for months. The demand for broad market insurance plunged to multi-year lows in the first quarter as US stocks posted a series of fresh highs despite growing geopolitical tensions and uncertainty over interest rates. This week, that
The US economy added more jobs than expected in March while the unemployment rate ticked lower, furthering signs the labor market remains on stronger footing than many predicted.. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Friday showed the labor market added 303,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in March, significantly more additions than the 214,000 expected
(Bloomberg) — US stocks were poised to open lower after last week’s strong rally as investors assessed the outlook for corporate earnings ahead of key data from the US that may give further clues on the Federal Reserve’s policy path. Most Read from Bloomberg Futures on the S&P 500 slipped after Wall Street’s best weekly
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday held interest rates steady and made no changes to its forecast that it will be necessary to cut rates three times in 2024. The central bank’s benchmark interest rate remained in a range of 5.25%-5.50% at the conclusion of its latest policy meeting on Wednesday, the highest since 2001. While