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-U.S. employers added far fewer jobs than originally reported in the year through March, the Labor Department said on Wednesday, underscoring the growing concerns the Federal Reserve has about the health of the labor market as it gears up to start cutting interest rates in September. The department's estimate for total payroll employment for the period from…

The Federal Reserve appears to be very much on track for an interest rate cut in September after a "vast majority" of officials said such an action was likely, according to the minutes of the U.S. central bank's July 30-31 meeting. The policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee left its benchmark interest rate unchanged in the 5.25%-5.50% range on July 31, but…

The U.S. economy added 818,000 fewer jobs from early 2023 to early 2024 than the government previously reported, a sizable revision that could affect the Federal Reserve’ s decisions on interest rates and reverberate in the presidential campaign. The Labor Department said monthly figures overstated job growth in the 12- month period that ended in March.

—U.S. stocks weakened Thursday in the run-up to Wall Street's main event for the week, a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell coming on Friday. Stocks fell as Treasury yields cranked up the pressure in the bond market following some mixed data on the U.S. economy, which has been slowing under the weight of high interest rates meant to get inflation under…

By Paul Krugman/ The New York Times. More important, the details in the report were especially encouraging for yet another price index, personal consumption expenditures, which won't be released until later this month but which the Federal Reserve prefers as a basis for monetary policy. In fact, the widely followed New York Fed survey of consumer expectations,…

WASHINGTON— Most Federal Reserve officials agreed last month that they would likely cut their benchmark interest rate at their next meeting in September as long as inflation continued to cool.The minutes of the Fed’ s July 30-31 meeting, released Wednesday, said the“ vast majority "of policymakers“ observed that, if the data continued to come in about as expected,…

U.S. stocks closed higher after more big companies delivered profit reports that topped analysts’ expectations. Treasury yields eased a bit as investors wait for the week’ s main event, which will arrive Friday. That’ s when Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will give a speech about interest rates.

As of June 2024, the personal savings rate was 3.4% and real disposable personal income per capita was 0.51%, according to U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data. Household debt increased by $109 billion in the second quarter of 2024, to $17.80 trillion; bankruptcy notations added to credit reports in Q2 2024 increased, according to the latest Federal Reserve…

Wall Street traders had already considered it a certainty that the Fed will announce its first interest rate cut in four years when it meets in mid-September, according to futures prices. Further guidance on the Fed’ s next steps is expected when Chair Jerome Powell gives a highly anticipated speech Friday morning at the annual symposium of central bankers in…

To compensate for these methodological weaknesses, once a year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics benchmarks the level of nonfarm payrolls to a much more comprehensive employment series called the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. The latter derives its job estimate not from a survey, but from tax records and cover roughly 95% of businesses in the United…

–The Japanese yen stabilized around 145.00 yen per dollar at the start of trading on Wednesday after hitting a two-week high in the previous session, supported by strong expectations that the Federal Reserve will soon begin cutting US interest rates.– Several Federal Reserve officials have warned of growing risks to the US labor market and broader economy,…

HUTCHINSON, Kan.— Creighton University economist Ernie Goss said consumer debt is a problem that is getting bigger as prices have risen, even though they are doing so more slowly than they were. "Those credit card balances are up to record levels, even paying over 20% interest rates on the balances you carry forward," Goss said. A second cut, I expect, in 2024, so I expect…

WASHINGTON— Yearover-year inflation reached its lowest level in more than three years in July, the latest sign that the worst price spike in four decades is fading and setting up the Federal Reserve for an interest rate cut in September. The Labor Department report Wednesday showed consumer prices rose just 0.2% from June to July after dropping slightly the…

WASHINGTON— JD Vance has endorsed former President Donald Trump's call for the White House to have "a say" over the Federal Reserve's interest rate policies— a view that runs counter to decades of economic research suggesting that politically independent central banks are essential to controlling inflation and maintaining confidence in the global…

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against Carl C. Icahn and his publicly traded company, Icahn Enterprises L.P., for failing to disclose information relating to Icahn's pledges of IEP securities as collateral to secure personal margin loans worth billions of dollars under agreements with various lenders. IEP and Icahn agreed to pay…