Fed’s Bullard Raises Target for Year-End Funds Rate

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said Friday that unexpectedly high inflation calls for a more aggressive path of short-term interest rate rises this year. Inflation “has come...

The 15 housing markets in America that are now actually more affordable than they were in 2005

“Worsening affordability appears to be having an impact on demand, which could lead to prices plateauing or even correcting modestly in some markets,” one pro told MarketWatch Picks. Getty Images/iSto...

75 or 100 basis points? Lost in market debate over Fed’s next rate hike is ‘how long inflation stays at these levels’

Debate has been simmering over whether Federal Reserve policy makers will raise the fed-funds rate by three-quarters of a percentage point later this month, as they did in June, or step up their infla...

6 Apartment Stocks That Get a Rise Out of High Home Prices

Illustration by Naomi Elliott Text size Skyrocketing home prices and mortgage rates make this a tough time to buy a house. But it’s an opportunity for bargain hunters to invest in apartment real estat...

Jeremy Siegel on Why Today’s Inflation Is Different From the 1970s

Illustration by Elias Stein Text size This isn’t a rerun of the 1970s, argues Jeremy Siegel, the author of the seminal Stocks for the Long Run and a professor emeritus of finance at the University of ...

Dow jumps 650 points as stocks close sharply higher after stronger-than expected retail sales report, surge in Wall Street bank shares

U.S. stock indexes closed sharply higher Friday, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average each snapping a five-day losing streak, after stronger-than-expected retail sales data and a mode...

Lumber Prices Tumble After Huge Gains in 2021

Shopping for lumber at a Home Depot in Alhambra, Calif., earlier this year Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images Text size The lumber market has taken some big hits from rising inflation and a slowdown i...

Fed Finally Is Focusing on the Big Picture in Inflation Fight

Text size A modest decline in gasoline prices has raised some hope that inflation is abating. Gene J. Puskar/AP/Shutterstock “Don’t fight the Fed” has long been the mantra of investors. As the U.S. ce...

The U.S. dollar hasn’t been this strong against the euro in 20 years. Here’s what happened next.

A gutsy contrarian bet right now is that the strong U.S. dollar will weaken, particularly versus the euro. A secondary bold bet is that U.S. stocks will lag international equities. Dollar weakness wou...

Euro Slips Below Dollar as Europe’s Economic Fortunes Slump

The euro’s slide below parity with the U.S. dollar reflects Europe’s sinking economic fortunes in the face of the war in Ukraine. But unlike the last time the euro was this weak 20 years ago, nobody i...

IRS Gives Wealthy Families More Time to Shelter Assets from Estate Tax

The federal government is giving widows and widowers more time to deal with the intricacies of the estate tax after a spouse dies. When one spouse dies, their partner often inherits all or part of the...

Social Security Benefits Projected to Rise the Most in 42 Years

Text size A 10.5% COLA would boost the average benefit for retired workers by $175, according to The Senior Citizens League. Dreamstime Social Security recipients are projected to receive a double-dig...

U.S. stock futures inch up ahead of CPI data that could show inflation at 40-year high

U.S. equity futures inched higher on Wednesday, though trading was timid ahead of U.S. data that could show stubborn inflation forcing a faster pace of rate rises from the Federal Reserve. How are sto...

U.S. June inflation report circulating on internet Tuesday is fake, Bureau of Labor Statistics says

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday that a release circulating online purporting to show June inflation data, due for release on Wednesday morning, was a forgery.  “We’re aware of a fake ...

Stock market faces inflation test Wednesday: Here are ‘good, bad and ugly’ scenarios

Expectation for U.S. inflation have fallen over the past month thanks largely to the drop in industrial and agricultural commodity prices. This trend has shown up in the Federal Reserve Bank of New Yo...

U.S. yield curve most inverted in 15 years

U.S. Treasury yields fell on Tuesday as investors sought the safety of government debt amid floundering equity markets and lingering global economic growth concerns ahead of U.S. consumer price index ...

Euro slips closer to parity as Goldman warns the ECB could respond more ‘forcefully’ to a weak currency’

As the euro moved ever closer toward parity on Tuesday, one big Wall Street bank warned that investors may be underestimating the firepower of the bloc’s central bank. Pressure resumed on the common c...

A Double-Dip Recession Is Coming. It Will Be Worse if the Fed Caves on Inflation

A double-dip recession like the one experienced in the early 1980s is likely, writes Robert Heller. Above, a line of people waiting to apply for jobs at a hotel in Tampa Bay, Fla., in 1982. AP/Shutter...

What big Wall Street banks say about where the S&P 500 will end 2022

The stock market has steadied at midyear, but after a historically ugly six months that saw the S&P 500 enter bear territory, big Wall Street banks offer diverging views on where equities are like...

Home builders cut prices and slow construction as buyers pull back, survey shows

Home builders are feeling jittery. That’s according to a June survey of home builder sentiment by John Burns Real Estate Consulting. Demand for new homes is cooling as buyers cancel orders, and builde...

‘Good deals for the bold:’ How the rest of 2022 might play out for hopeful homebuyers

This is reprinted by permission from .  The first half of 2022 was a catastrophe for home buyers. Skyrocketing mortgage rates and home prices made homeownership unaffordable for millions of renters. A...

If this stock market is shaping up like 2008, here’s where we could be headed next, says strategist

Those looking for a bit of good news to start the week may have to cast the net further out. Stocks are tilting lower as COVID-19 cases flare up in China, threatening more lockdowns. And the plate was...

What’s Happening in Sri Lanka? What to Know About the Protests and Economic Crisis

Sri Lanka’s sovereign-debt crisis has crippled its economy and sparked months of political turmoil and public unrest. With its foreign reserves drained to near zero, the South Asian nation fell into d...

Will earnings season trigger another leg lower for the Dow? Investors hunt for recession clues

Stock-market investors just can’t get off the merry-go-round this summer. A stronger-than-expected U.S. June jobs report on Friday calmed fears that the economy might have already slipped into recessi...

Miami’s Gold Rush: Finance Firms and Crypto Move In, Bringing Strains

From his new office in Miami Beach, real-estate investor Barry Sternlicht is only steps from the ocean. His waterfront mansion is just a short drive away. Cold winters and state income taxes are a thi...

Stock Outlook Brightens as Jobs Stay Strong, Commodities Prices Decline

Text size The jobless rate held steady at 3.6% in June. Above, looking for work at a job fair in Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images The economy looks resilient, and inflation is coming down. That combin...

Manufacturers Brace for Nord Stream Repairs, Fearing Pipeline Won’t Reopen

PARIS—European manufacturers are preparing for possible natural-gas rationing that would force them to shut production amid fears that Russia is about to cut off gas deliveries via its main artery to ...

I’m the chief economist for a $5 billion real estate data and title company. Here are 5 things you need to know about the housing market now

Mark Fleming Housing has become increasingly unaffordable to millions of Americans — with home prices and mortgage rates continuing to rise (see the lowest rates you may qualify for now here). So – as...

Commodity price declines may shape Fed’s rate-hike path, says economist

A significant downturn in commodity prices could give the Federal Reserve cover to change its aggressive pace of planned interest rate hikes, according to a report from Capital Economics.   The centra...

Home prices may still rise, but car values are set to fall from pandemic peak: Goldman

Homes and vehicles are two big-ticket items that most American families will require financing to obtain. There’s some good news — and bad news — when looking at both assets in the next two years, acc...

Bank of Mexico Minutes Show Board Open to More 0.75-Point Rate Increases

MEXICO CITY—Bank of Mexico governors all agreed to raise the reference interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point last month to rein in inflation, and most are willing to consider further i...

Fed’s James Bullard Says 0.75-Point July Rate Rise Is Likely

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said he is ready to follow the U.S. central bank’s supersize June rate rise with the same thing at the end of this month. “Our goal has been t...