Economy

A real estate sign advertising a home “Under Contract” is pictured in Vienna, Virginia, outside of Washington. Larry Downing | Reuters An unusual surge in home buying, just as the market enters the historically slow holiday season, is driving mortgage demand higher. Total mortgage application volume rose 1.8% last week compared with the previous week,

A customer’s groceries are rung up at a store in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Critical supply chains are choked off. Demand soars. Prices surge and everyone starts freaking out about inflation and wonder how long it will last. Is it 1945? 1916?

The ranks of those submitting jobless claims tumbled to their lowest level in more than 52 years last week, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. New filings totaled 199,000, a number not seen since Nov. 15, 1969, when claims totaled 197,000. The report easily beat Dow Jones estimates of 260,000 and was well below the previous

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell attends the House Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 30, 2021. Al Drago | Reuters Expect more tough talk from the Federal Reserve, as it may consider winding down its bond program sooner than expected. Based on comments from a number of Fed officials, market

The Pie Shop in Washington, D.C. CNBC As Americans sit down at their Thanksgiving tables, many of the items in front of them will be more expensive than they were last year. Pies in particular. And climate change is a contributing factor. Inflation is hitting every sector of the economy, and food products are not

Customers stand in line to check out at a grocery store in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images After lying dormant for years, inflation is once again chipping away at American wallets, and it has become a chief concern for the White House. In

Federal Reserve officials at their meeting earlier this month expressed concern about inflation and said they would be willing to raise interest rates if prices keep rising. The committee that sets interest rates for the Fed on Wednesday released the minutes from the November session where it first signaled that it could be dialing back

Gasoline prices are displayed at a gas station on November 16, 2021 in San Mateo County, California. Liu Guanguan | China News Service | Getty Images Inflation rose strongly in October, accelerating at its fastest pace since the early 1990s, according to a Commerce Department gauge released Wednesday that is closely followed by Federal Reserve

Lael Brainard, governor of the U.S. Federal Reserve, listens during an event sponsored by the Economic Club of New York in New York, U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2017. Mark Kauzlarich | Bloomberg | Getty Images Lael Brainard is often the outlier. In her role as one of seven Federal Reserve governors, she’s made a

Jerome Powell, who guided the Federal Reserve and the nation’s economy through the staggering and sudden Covid-19 recession by implementing unprecedented monetary stimulus, has been nominated for a second term as chairman of the U.S. central bank. President Joe Biden made the announcement Monday morning following weeks of speculation that a push from progressives might

Real estate broker Rebecca Van Camp places a “Sold” placard on her sign in front of a home in Meridian, Idaho, on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020. Darin Oswald | Tribune News Service | Getty Images Sales of previously owned homes in October rose 0.8% to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 6.34 million units, according

Long-term market bull Jeremy Siegel expects a serious pullback that it isn’t tied to the Covid-19 surge risks. His tipping point: a drastic change in Federal Reserve policy in order to deal with hot inflation. “If the Fed suddenly gets tougher, I’m not sure that the market is going to be ready for a U-turn

Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser of Allianz SE, listens during a Bloomberg Television interview on the sidelines of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore, on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. Wei Leng Tay | Bloomberg | Getty Images The Federal Reserve is losing credibility over its long-standing view that inflation is transitory, according to Allianz

Kent Weakley | Getty Images Rents for single-family homes increased 10.2% nationally in September year over year, up from a 2.6% rise in September of last year, according to a new report from CoreLogic. Improved job growth and sky-high prices in the for-sale housing market added to already strong demand for single-family rentals fueled by

First-time claims for unemployment insurance were little changed over the past week, indicating that the heightened pace of layoffs during the pandemic may have hit a plateau, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Initial filings for the week ended Nov. 13, totaled 268,000, a decline of 1,000 from a week ago and slightly higher than the

A breakdown of the latest U.S. data indicates that inflation is confined to certain sectors and will not pose a threat to the recovery, according to Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. U.S. CPI inflation came in at an annual 6.2% in October, its steepest climb for more than 30 years. Energy, shelter

Real estate agents leave a home for sale during a broker open house in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images Rising mortgage interest rates continue to take their toll on demand, especially in the refinance market. Total mortgage application volume fell 2.8% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage

U.S. shoppers accelerated their level of spending in October even as the prices of goods jumped at their fastest pace since the 1990s, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. Retail sales, a measure of how much consumers spent on goods ranging across categories from autos to sporting goods and food and gas, increased 1.7% for October,