A stock-market paradox, in which bad news about the economy is seen as good news for equities, may have run its course. If so, investors should expect bad news to be bad news for stocks heading into the new year — and there may be plenty of it. But first, why would good news be … Read more
We all make mistakes—but the Federal Reserve may be making a bigger one than most. That could mean another difficult year for the stock market in 2023. Those concerns were front and center this past week, following the Federal Open Market Committee’s December meeting. The Fed didn’t do anything to surprise the market as it … Read more
If Federal Reserve officials are having second thoughts about their anti-inflation fight, you sure couldn’t tell by Jerome Powell on Wednesday. The Fed Chairman donned his finest hawk feathers and said again and again at his press conference that the central bank hasn’t made enough progress getting prices under control and isn’t going to ease … Read more
Stocks wavered after producer-price data came in hotter than expected, disappointing investors who had hoped for signs of easing inflation before the Federal Reserve’s meeting next week. The S&P 500 was flat on Friday morning, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1%. The technology-focused Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2%. The producer-price index, which measures what … Read more
Fed officials have warned in recent days that they are likely to lift rates to and hold them at levels high enough to slow economic activity and hiring to bring inflation down from 40-year highs. The employment report showed continued strong hiring and brisk wage growth, which is a source of concern to Fed officials … Read more
WASHINGTON—Most Federal Reserve officials thought they should slow the pace of interest-rate increases after approving a 0.75-percentage-point rate rise at their meeting earlier this month to battle high inflation. Their discussion at the meeting, described in minutes of the gathering released Wednesday, suggests they could downshift to a rate rise of 0.5 percentage point, or … Read more
The annual rate of consumer-price inflation in the eurozone increased to double digits in October, reaching a record and highlighting the challenges facing the European Central Bank after it signaled a coming slowdown in the pace of its rate increases. The broad measure of consumer prices has risen sharply since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and … Read more
The numbers: A key gauge of U.S. inflation rose a mild 0.3% in September, aided by the lower cost of gas. Yet prices are still going up even if they aren’t climbing as fast as they were earlier in the year. Another measure of inflation that omits volatile food and energy costs rose a sharp … Read more
Some investors are on edge that the Federal Reserve may be overtightening monetary policy in its bid to tame hot inflation, as markets look ahead to a reading this coming week from the Fed’s preferred gauge of the cost of living in the U.S. “Fed officials have been scrambling to scare investors almost every … Read more
Federal Reserve officials are barreling toward another interest-rate rise of 0.75 percentage point at their meeting Nov. 1-2 and are likely to debate then whether and how to signal plans to approve a smaller increase in December. “We will have a very thoughtful discussion about the pace of tightening at our next meeting,” Fed governor … Read more