The numbers: Mortgage rates have risen to the highest level in 20 years. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.94% as of October 20, according to data released by Freddie Mac on Thursday. That’s...
Tag: Economic Performance/Indicators
IRS releases new federal tax brackets and standard deductions. Here’s how they affect your family’s tax bill.
America’s high inflation rate will produce a 7% increase in the size of the standard deduction when workers file their taxes on their 2023 income, according to new inflation adjustments from the Inter...
Southern California’s Notorious Container Ship Backup Ends
The backup of container ships off Southern California’s coast that was at the heart of U.S. supply chain congestion during the Covid-19 pandemic has effectively disappeared. The queue of ships waiting...
‘Mounting fear is that something else will break along the way’: Stock-market investors look ahead to PCE inflation data amid Fed overtightening worries
Some investors are on edge that the Federal Reserve may be overtightening monetary policy in its bid to tame hot inflation, as markets look ahead to a reading this coming week from the Fed’s preferred...
Amazon earnings: ‘The good news is the consumer is still spending. The bad news is they’re not spending on e-commerce.’
Money is still flowing despite concerns about the economy, but Wall Street is wondering how much of that money is being spent on Amazon.com Inc. “The good news is the consumer is still spending,” D.A....
Why the housing market should brace for double-digit mortgage rates in 2023
Even if Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and his cohorts stopped hiking policy rates soon, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate still would climb to 10%, according to Christopher Whalen, chairman of ...
UBS has released its annual house-price bubble report. Here are the most overvalued markets.
The housing market is in something of its own recession as mortgage rates have surged. If the economist consensus is right about an existing home sales report due later in the morning, then sales will...
Have the bond vigilantes who attacked the U.K. killed off modern monetary theory? MMT proponent Stephanie Kelton says that’s nonsense.
As investors assesses the remarkable turnaround in fiscal policy from one of the world’s number-six economy, the U.K., the one conclusion surely is that a nation’s financial flexibility is limited by ...
These 11 stocks can lead your portfolio’s rebound after the S&P 500 ‘earnings recession’ and a market bottom next year
This may surprise you: Wall Street analysts expect earnings for the S&P 500 to increase 8% during 2023, despite all the buzz about a possible recession as the Federal Reserve tightens monetary pol...
Stock market’s wild gyrations put earnings in focus as inflation crushes Fed ‘pivot’ hopes
Unrelenting inflation has dashed hopes for a quick pivot away from aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, which in turn is undermining the U.S. corporate earnings outlook for 2023 and ...
Tesla, Goldman Sachs, Netflix, AT&T, and Other Stocks for Investors to Watch This Week
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The Fed Has Another Problem. States Are Doling Out Stimulus Funds
A spending spree is coming, and it may do more harm than good. An analysis by Deutsche Bank economists shows that 20 U.S. states have recently enacted, or are in the process of enacting, stimulus prog...
What bank earnings tell us about how consumers are doing with high inflation, recession worries — ‘It’s not a crack in current numbers’
For all the worries about inflation’s pinch and the chance of a recession, just-released earnings reports from big banks indicate the wallets of many regular Americans are generally holding up as they...
‘Growing wealth gap and rising inflation … hurt the global economy at almost every turn,’ Jamie Dimon says
What a difference 25 years can make. The world today is a markedly different place from the world that existed at MarketWatch’s inception in October 1997. JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, +1.66% CEO Jami...
‘We’re seeing buyers backing out’: This dramatic chart reveals U-turn in the housing market as sellers slash home prices
Here’s a chart that speaks a thousand words about the state of the real-estate market right now. The chart above, part of a new report by real-estate brokerage Redfin RDFN, -7.03% on the property mark...
The Stock Market Rebound Fizzled. Why a Real Bottom Could Be Forming Soon.
Investors seemingly can’t stop trying to pick a stock market bottom, no matter how bad the news—and it continues to backfire. The day for a real bounce, however, may be coming soon. Consider: This pas...
Fed’s benchmark interest rate may peak above 5% after Sept inflation data, some economists think
When the Federal Reserve started to raise its benchmark policy interest rate by super-sized 0.75 percentage points in June this year, a few Fed officials and private sector economists talked about how...
This is how high interest rates might rise, and what could scare the Federal Reserve into a policy pivot
The stock market’s reaction to the latest inflation report Thursday underlined just how confused and fearful investors are. The S&P 500 SPX, +2.60% plunged as much as 3% shortly after the open as ...
Why stocks scored a historic bounce after another hot inflation report
Stock-market investors can be forgiven for feeling a little dizzy after a day that saw stocks plunge in reaction to another round of hotter-than-expected inflation data only to surge higher and extend...
Opinion: $22 billion in I-bond sales can’t be wrong. Why you may want to buy them even when their rate resets soon
I-bonds’ sky-high interest rate is poised to fall to 6.48% when they reset next month, according to industry experts. Still, that would be the third-highest level since they were sold in 1998. Though ...
Rates on Treasury I Bonds Will Fall to 6.5% Soon. Get a Higher Rate Now.
The new rate on Treasury Series I inflation-linked savings bonds is likely to be set at 6.5% for bonds purchased starting in November, down from the current rate of 9.6%, Barron’s estimates. The new r...
‘The mood has turned darker’: Desperate to outrun inflation, people are making big (and easy) changes to their habits. You can too.
We never were the same after last summer. Stubbornly high inflation rates in recent months and several interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve are impacting consumer behavior. That’s according...
U.S. stock futures advance ahead of inflation data
U.S. stock-index futures advanced Thursday ahead of the week’s big event, the release of September consumer price inflation data. What’s happening Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00, +0....
What stock-market investors will be watching in Thursday’s U.S. inflation report
Hotter-than-expected U.S. consumer-price index readings have triggered some of the stock market’s biggest one-day selloffs in 2022, serving to focus investor attention ahead of the latest measure of r...
That Sky-High I Bond Interest Rate Will Be Coming Down to Earth
Inflation-adjusted Series I savings bonds have been the most enticing place to park your cash this year—nearly 10% interest, backed by the U.S. government, the safest investment around. In a few weeks...
I’m the US chief economist at Vanguard, and here are 5 things investors should consider now amid high inflation
“High inflation is unlikely to become a permanent feature of the economy,” said Vanguard’s U.S. chief economist and head of portfolio construction Roger Aliaga-Diaz. Vanguard Despite the Federal Reser...
Fed’s Mester says there’s been no progress on inflation, so interest rates need to move higher
With little or no progress made on bringing inflation down, the Federal Reserve needs to continue raising interest rates, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said Tuesday. “At some point, you know,...
Opinion: The stock market is in trouble. That’s because the the bond market is ‘very close to a crash.’
Don’t assume the worst is over, says investor Larry McDonald. There’s talk of a policy pivot by the Federal Reserve as interest rates rise quickly and stocks keep falling. Both may continue. McDonald,...
Two Fed Officials Make Case for Caution With Future Interest Rate Raises
Two Federal Reserve officials began laying out a case for exercising caution in raising interest rates after policy makers last month telegraphed plans to continue lifting rates at their fastest pace ...
Residential housing demand ‘cratered’ as mortgage rates spiked, analyst says
Raymond James analyst Buck Horne lowered ratings on all of the home-builder stocks he covers, as he believes the recent “relentless” climb in mortgage rates has ensured a housing recession. “Interest ...