Economy

A home is offered for sale on January 20, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. Scott Olson | Getty Images The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage hit 4.72% Tuesday, moving 26 basis points higher since just Friday, according to Mortgage News Daily. As a result of the recent spike in rates, economists are now

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell addresses an online only news conference in a frame grab from U.S. Federal Reserve video broadcast from the Federal Reserve building in Washington, U.S., January 26, 2022. U.S. Federal Reserve | via Reuters Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Monday vowed tough action on inflation, which he said jeopardizes

The Federal Reserve building in Washington, January 26, 2022. Joshua Roberts | Reuters The Federal Reserve is poised to announce its first interest rate hike since 2018 on Wednesday. The central bank is likely to raise its target federal funds rate by 25 basis points, or one-quarter of one percent, to address the worst inflation

A house for rent in Corona Del Mar, California. Scott Mlyn | CNBC Demand for single-family rental homes is soaring, pushing prices to record highs, as Americans begin to emerge from two years of pandemic hardship and return to big cities. Single-family rents gained a record 12.6% year over year in January, according to a

Another surge in energy prices pushed wholesale goods prices to their biggest one-month jump in record in February, according to Labor Department data released Tuesday. Final demand prices for goods jumped 2.4% for the month, the largest move ever in data going back to December 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. That pushed the

Forecasters have raised their outlooks for a recession and boosted their inflation projection as the Federal Reserve faces the quandary of fast-rising prices and greater uncertainty from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the latest CNBC Fed Survey. The probability of a recession in the U.S. was raised to 33% in the next 12 months,

A trader on the NYSE, March 11, 2022. Source: NYSE Investors may take the Federal Reserve’s first post-pandemic interest rate hike in stride, while uncertainty over the Ukraine crisis continues to hang over markets. The Fed has clearly broadcast that it intends to raise its target fed funds rate by a quarter percentage point from

In a first pass at gauging the economic impact from the Ukraine invasion, forecasters say the U.S. will grow more slowly with higher inflation, Europe’s economy will flirt near recession and Russia will plunge into a deep, double-digit decline. The CNBC Rapid Update, the average of 14 forecasts for the U.S. economy, sees GDP rising

A single family home is shown for sale in Encinitas, California. Mike Blake | Reuters After rising steadily for months, mortgage rates made a U-turn last week, and borrowers jumped to take advantage. The crisis in Ukraine rattled financial markets and caused a run on the relatively safer bond market. Yields fell and mortgage rates

Members of the Federal Reserve are debating how quickly to reduce the central bank’s portfolio of bonds, without starting a recession. Heading into the second quarter of 2022, the balance of Federal Reserve’s assets is almost $9 trillion. The majority of these assets are securitized holdings of government debt and mortgages. Most were purchased to

Inflation grew worse in February amid the escalating crisis in Ukraine and price pressures that became more entrenched. The consumer price index, which measures a wide-ranging basket of goods and services, increased 7.9% over the past 12 months, a fresh 40-year high for the closely followed gauge, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor

A house’s real estate for sale sign shows an upcoming open house in Washington, DC. Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images Mortgage demand stalled last week, as interest rates hit a multiyear high, but that will likely change quickly. Rates are now falling fast due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Mortgage application volume

Residents outside a shopping mall during a break in curfew in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, March 1, 2022. Erin Trieb | Bloomberg | Getty Images Rising inflation and global supply chain strains remain top of mind for retailers as they navigate the post-holiday earnings season. But also making its way into conversations with analysts and

Job growth accelerated in February, posting its biggest monthly gain since July as the employment picture got closer to its pre-pandemic self. Nonfarm payrolls for the month grew by 678,000 and the unemployment rate was 3.8%, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. That compared to estimates of 440,000 for payrolls and 3.9%

A worker drills plywood on a single family home under construction in Lehi, Utah, on Friday, Jan. 7, 2022. George Frey | Bloomberg | Getty Images The economy was likely to have added jobs at a healthy pace in February and wages gains were strong. The February employment report, released at 8:30 a.m. Friday, is

A person walks by a sign advertising employment at a fast-food restaurant on November 05, 2021 in New York City. Spencer Platt | Getty Images Initial claims for unemployment insurance totaled 215,000, the lowest tally since the beginning of the year and fewer than Wall Street estimates, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by

Signage at a Job News USA career fair in Louisville, Kentucky, June 23, 2021. Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg | Getty Images Private job creation rose at a faster-than-expected clip in February, according to a count released Wednesday from payrolls processing firm ADP. Companies added 475,000 positions for the month, better than the Dow Jones estimate

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell speaking at a re-nomination hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, on January 11, 2022, in Washington, DC. Pool / Getty Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell still sees interest rate hikes coming, but noted Wednesday that the Russia-Ukraine war has injected uncertainty into the outlook. In