Cooler Inflation Tells Fed That Rates Are High Enough
The Editorial Board Bloomberg May 16, 2024 As the Federal Reserve struggles to make sense of a ceaseless flow of noisy statistics, it needs to keep one question front of mind: Is the current policy rate restrictive enough to bring inflation gently back down to the central bank’s 2% target? Right now, taken as a […]
Ships Diverted From Red Sea Send Ripple Effects Across the Globe
Brendan Murray Bloomberg June 2, 2024 Never has it been so cheap to inflict a world of economic pain. That stark point was underscored last week by Maximilian Hess, a principal at London-based Enmetena Advisory, a political risk consultancy. Speaking to a webinar of supply-chain managers, he showed a slide of a canoe-size naval drone […]
US Service Providers Chalk Up Strongest Growth in Nine Months
US Service Providers Chalk Up Strongest Growth in Nine Months ISM services PMI jumped 4.4 points in May to 53.8 Business activity posts biggest monthly gain in three years By Vince Golle Bloomberg, 06/05/2024 The US services sector expanded in May by the most in nine months, powered by the largest monthly gain in a measure […]
US REACT: April CPI Is Soft, But Details Aren’t Reassuring (2)
By Anna Wong (Economist), Stuart Paul (Economist) and Estelle Ou (Economist) Bloomberg May 15, 2024 (Bloomberg Economics) — OUR TAKE: April’s soft core CPI reading is the lowest yet this year. The good news is that we’re finally seeing disinflation in housing rents, which are on track to follow the downward path we – and probably […]
BofA’s Moynihan Says Consumers Still Strong Even With High Rates
Katherine Doherty Bloomberg MAY 13, 2024 Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan said US consumers, helped by wage growth, remain in good shape even amid elevated interest rates, and that businesses are once again looking at mergers and acquisitions. Consumer spending has climbed 3% to 4% in May from a year ago, Moynihan said Monday. […]
BlackRock says now is the time to lock in higher yields and move cash into bonds
Michelle Fox CNBC MAY 3, 2024 Investors with cash on the sidelines may want to start moving some of that money into bonds, according to a new report from BlackRock. The bond market has seen some volatility amid the uncertainty around interest rates and the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy. On Friday, the 10-year Treasury yield […]
Backdoor Roth IRAs Are Promising—and Perilous
The Wall Street Journal Laura Saunders May 3, 2024 5:30 am ET For determined savers, the backdoor Roth IRA is an important tool. It’s easy to see why: Roth IRAs offer both tax-free growth and tax-free withdrawals on contributions of after-tax dollars. Savers can put in up to $7,000 this year, or $8,000 if age 50 […]
Google and Microsoft Don’t Care About Fed’s 2% Inflation Goal
Conor Sen Bloomberg May 3, 2024 High interest rates won’t deter spending by the big technology companies as they race to dominate in artificial intelligence. As the Federal Reserve acknowledges a setback in its inflation fight, one question looms large: Why hasn’t the economy slowed the way policymakers expected? An underrated factor here is the growing belief […]
Bullish Stocks Narrative Seen as Intact After US Inflation Data
Isabelle Lee Bloomberg March 29, 2024 Inflation view won’t shift, Richard Bernstein Advisors says Mismatch between spending and income is worrying, Sosnick says A cooldown in the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of underlying inflation last month, coupled with a rebound in household spending, failed to shift the Wall Street consensus that has lifted stocks to records in […]
US Consumer Sentiment Jumps to Highest Level Since July 2021
Vince Golle Bloomberg March 28, 2024 US consumer sentiment rose markedly toward the end of March, supported by strong stock-market gains and expectations that inflation will continue to ease. The University of Michigan’s sentiment index climbed to 79.4 from 76.5 earlier in the month, reaching the highest since mid-2021, according to the final March reading […]