Chinese Consumers Hoard Cash After Confidence Takes a Hit
MarketsEconomists believe spending will be slow to bounce back after the end of zero-Covid Source link
U.S. consumer credit grows at slowest pace in two years in sign of economic worries
The numbers: The amount of credit consumers used in December rose by a scant 2.9% — the smallest uptick in more than two years — as Americans tightened their belts in response to a slowing economy. Consumer credit rose by $11.6 billion in the final month of 2022, Federal Reserve data showed. Economists had expected a […]
No wonder Powell didn’t commit to extra hikes. Here are five reasons the January jobs report may be too good to be true.
Traders took heart that Fed Chair Jerome Powell, when he wasn’t being questioned by David Rubinstein on how he gets by on $190,000 per year, didn’t commit on Tuesday to having to be even more aggressive on interest rates given the huge 517,000 surge in nonfarm payrolls. Powell said rates would have to go even […]
U.S. could be heading into period of ‘transitory disinflation,’ traders and strategists say
Hopes for a further decline in U.S. inflation this year are giving way to a risk seen in some corners of the financial market that any improvement in price gains will turn out to be fleeting.Strategists at JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, +1.22% and BofA Securities, along with Peter Schiff of Euro Pacific Asset Management, […]
Households Burn Through What’s Left of Their Pandemic Savings
The cushion of savings many built up during the pandemic is thinning out. In some households, it is already gone.Americans have spent down about 35% of the extra savings they accumulated during the pandemic as of mid-January, according to an estimate from Goldman Sachs. By the end of the year, the company forecasts that they […]
Lawrence Summers and IMF director both say odds of soft landing for U.S. are improving
““It looks more possible that we’ll have a soft landing than it did a few months ago.”” Those were the words of former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers on Sunday, offering hope that the U.S. economy can avoid recession, but warning that inflation is still far too high. In an interview on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” […]
‘Wow,” Fed’s Daly says after killer jobs report, but it doesn’t alter Fed’s inflation-fighting plan
The president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve said the huge increase in new U.S. jobs in January was a “wow” report, but she stressed the central bank needs more information before it decides how much further to raise interest rates. “What I am seeing is a strong labor market,” Mary Daly said in an […]
China’s Caixin services PMI bounces back in January
A private gauge of China’s service-sector activity bounced back in January to expansionary territory, signaling a quick economic recovery following Beijing’s removal of its stringent COVID-19 containment regime in December. The Caixin China Services purchasing managers index rose to 52.9 in January from 48.0 in December, said Caixin Media Co. and S&P Global on Friday. […]
Eurozone inflation fell more than expected in January, to the lowest rate since May 2022
Eurozone inflation eased more than expected in January, reaching an eight-month low, but price pressures persisted beyond energy as the European Central Bank gets ready for further interest-rate increases. Consumer prices rose 8.5% in January compared with the same month a year earlier, down from a 9.2% increase in December, according to preliminary data from […]
Mortgage demand falls 9% despite rates falling for fourth week in a row
The numbers: The housing market is not out of the woods yet, as mortgage demand fell again despite an improvement in rates. Despite mortgage rates dropping for the fourth consecutive week, mortgage demand fell 9% in the latest week. Demand for both purchases and refinancing fell. That pushed the market composite index down, a measure […]