• January 27, 2018
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Fresh off a resounding confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Jerome Powell takes over as chairman of the Federal Reserve next week with the central bank facing big decisions about monetary policy.
 The Fed is not only in the process of gradually raising interest rates, it also has been slowly reducing its massive balance sheet in

• January 27, 2018
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Interest rates and classic measures of inflation have been pinned down to historically muted levels in recent years. As both show signs of creeping higher, some market watchers see the combination as a potential headwind for stocks. Inflation and the 10-year Treasury yield rising together are of particular importance.  The combination could be the “fly

• January 26, 2018
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The U.S. expanded at a 2.6% annual pace in fourth quarter, extending one of the best stretches of growth during the current eight-and-a-half-year-old upturn. GDP fell short of the 3% forecast, however, owing to lower inventory production and a bigger trade deficit. Consumer spending, the main engine of the economy, rose a strong 3.8%, the

• January 26, 2018
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President Donald Trump expects the U.S. economy to continue powering ahead in coming years, saying economic growth is likely to be higher than what most economists currently expect. In an interview aired Friday from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump was asked about forecasts that the U.S. economy would expand around 3% in the

• January 25, 2018
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New-home sales were at a 625,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate in December, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Sales of newly-constructed homes swooned in December, and a big jump in November was revised down. December’s rate was 9.3% lower than November, but 14.1% higher than a year ago. The median forecast, among economists surveyed was for

• January 25, 2018
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Initial U.S. jobless claims rose by 13,000 to 233,000 in the seven days ended Jan. 20. below the 240,000 forecast of economists. The more stable monthly average of claims fell by 3,500 to 240,000, the government said Thursday.

• January 24, 2018
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Existing-home sales were at a 5.57 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in December, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. Sales of previously-owned homes tumbled in December as an ongoing inventory crunch worsened. Existing-home sales were down 3.6% for the month, though they were up 1.1% compared to a year ago. NAR said November’s selling

• January 23, 2018
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U.S. Treasurys saw some cautious buying on Tuesday, pushing yields lower, a day after President Donald Trump signed legislation to temporarily end a multiday, partial shutdown of the government.

• January 21, 2018
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The federal government stopped operating at midnight Friday heading into Saturday, halting all but essential services, after the Senate came 10 votes short of reaching a temporary, last-minute funding deal that would have kept the government open through February 16. The shutdown comes on the anniversary of President Trump’s inauguration, and with the GOP in

• January 20, 2018
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The deadline arrived without a deal. The U.S. government shut down at midnight Friday after Congress failed to overcome a partisan divide over immigration and spending.