Economy

A sign of a home for sale is pictured in Alhambra, California on May 4, 2022. Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images Mortgage rates actually fell slightly last week, but the damage has already been done to housing affordability. Both refinance and purchase loan demand dropped, pulling total mortgage application volume down 11%

A woman rides an electric bike past a gas station as current gasoline prices continues to climb close to record setting territory in Encinitas, California, May 9, 2022. Mike Blake | Reuters U.S. households are now spending the equivalent of $5,000 a year on gasoline, up from $2,800 a year ago, according to Yardeni Research.

Corporate executives are taking a dim view of their prospects, with a majority now expecting a recession ahead, according to a closely watched business survey released Wednesday. The Conference Board measure of CEO sentiment showed that 57% of respondents expect inflation to come down “over the next few years” but the economy to sustain a

Contractors work on concrete slabs in the Cielo at Sand Creek by Century Communities housing development in Antioch, California, on Thursday, March 31, 2022. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Builder sentiment in the market for single-family homes fell sharply in May, as mortgage rates shot higher and building material costs showed no

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell emphasized his resolve to get inflation down, saying Tuesday he won’t hesitate to back interest rate increases until prices start falling back toward a healthy level. “If that involves moving past broadly understood levels of neutral we won’t hesitate to do that,” the central bank leader told the Wall Street

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point as the most aggressive step yet in its battle against generational highs in inflation. Along with the move higher in rates, the central bank indicated it will begin reducing asset holdings on its $9 trillion balance sheet. The Fed had

People work at the Rivian Automotive electric vehicle factory in Normal, Illinois, April 11, 2022. Kamil Krzaczynski | Reuters Worker productivity fell to start 2022 at its fastest pace in nearly 75 years while labor costs soared as the U.S. struggled with surging Covid cases, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday. Nonfarm productivity, a

Lumber at the site of a house under construction in the Cielo at Sand Creek by Century Communities housing development in Antioch, California, U.S., on Thursday, March 31, 2022. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Bank regulators on Thursday proposed the first sweeping changes in more than 25 years to a controversial law

A worker grinds a weld on a safe that is being manufactured at Liberty Safe Company on March 22, 2022 in Payson, Utah. George Frey | Getty Images The Covid pandemic sent more than 8 million workers to the sidelines at one point, including many folks who decided it was the right time to retire

Shoppers inside a grocery store in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Monday, May 2, 2022.  David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images April’s consumer price index report is expected to show inflation has already reached a peak — a development that some investors say could temporarily soothe markets. But economists say, even with a

Christopher Waller, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee for governor of the Federal Reserve, speaks during a Senate Banking Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S, on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller pledged Tuesday that the rate-setting group wouldn’t make the same mistakes on inflation

The U.S. economy added slightly more jobs than expected in April amid an increasingly tight labor market and despite surging inflation and fears of a growth slowdown, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls grew by 428,000 for the month, a bit above the Dow Jones estimate of 400,000. The unemployment rate was

Neel Kashkari Anjali Sundaram | CNBC Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said Monday he’s confident inflation will come back to normal though it’s taking longer than he expected. Acknowledging that he was on “team transitory” in believing that surging prices wouldn’t last, he said persistent supply-demand imbalances have generated the highest inflation levels in

A worker stocks items inside a grocery store in San Francisco, California, May 2, 2022. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Consumers grew a little more optimistic about inflation in April, though they still expect to be spending considerably more in the year ahead, a Federal Reserve survey released Monday shows. Inflation expectations

People work at the Rivian Automotive electric vehicle factory in Normal, Illinois, April 11, 2022. Kamil Krzaczynski | Reuters Gross domestic product unexpectedly declined at a 1.4% annualized pace in the first quarter, marking an abrupt reversal for an economy coming off its best performance since 1984, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. The negative growth

A “now hiring” sign is posted in the window of an ice cream shop in Los Angeles, California on January 28, 2022. Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images Employment openings exceeded the level of available workers by 5.6 million in March while a record number of people quit their jobs, the Labor Department

Jerome Powell, Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, attends the National Association of Business Economicseconomic policy conference in Washington, D.C, United States on March 21, 2022. Yasin Ozturk | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images The Federal Reserve is tasked with slowing the U.S. economy enough to control inflation but not so much that it tips

The Federal Reserve is hiking interest rates in an effort to defuse an explosive year of price inflation. But global forces could neutralize the effects of that tightening of monetary policy, and keep inflation high. Some observers believe the U.S. government may have misread the looming threat of inflation. During the pandemic, Uncle Sam dispersed