Washington Wire

Falling Treasury yields have either led stocks higher on the heels of slowing inflation data, or prompted investors to trim gains as price pressures quicken and the prospect of Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts dims. But Treasury yields also play a crucial role in the housing market. Core inflation, which strips out food and energy costs and is closely…

The rule sets requirements to improve the electronic exchange of health information and prior authorization processes for medical items and services.

Former President Donald Trump is cruising in Iowa but running ads in New Hampshire to dampen independent support for Nikki Haley, his nearest rival in the Granite State. The ads, which began running on MSNBC in recent days, hit Ms. Haley over her assertion that younger workers should prepare for a higher retirement age. Some polls show Ms. Haley trailing Mr. Trump by…

California homeowners battered by the meltdown of the Golden State "s home insurance market will have a new place to voice their frustration in 2024— at the ballot box. Adam Schiff, the frontrunner in the March 5 primary, has introduced a bill in Congress aimed at easing home insurance woes across the country and especially in California, where officials are…

The former president said in an interview this week that he expects the U.S. economy to crash and hopes it does before he would take office in January 2025, if reelected. Above all, Trump said he would not want to be known as another Herbert Hoover. While Democrats have ripped Trump's comments as scornful of the millions of Americans who would lose their jobs in a…

U.S. inflation is set to further recede in 2024, ending the year near the Federal Reserve’ s 2% target as economic disruptions from the pandemic fade further and prices of some goods even decline. The downdraft should keep the U.S. central bank firmly on course for lower interest rates, with cuts expected to come as soon as March. The December report on consumer…

SAN ANTONIO— Inflation has plummeted, and a coveted "soft landing" appears within our sights. For that we largely have the Federal Reserve to thank. Yet misguided politicians on both left and right are undermining the central bank's ability to achieve this feat ever again.

A growing number of states are opening taxpayer-funded health insurance programs to immigrants, including those living in the U.S. without authorization, even as Republicans assail President Joe Biden over a dramatic increase in illegal crossings of the southern border. Starting this month, Republican-controlled Utah is covering children regardless of…

—Bringing resurgent inflation down was never expected to be so relatively pain-free. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned of hard times ahead after the Fed began jacking up interest rates in the spring of 2022 to attack high inflation. The Labor Department is expected to report Friday that employers added a still-solid 160,000 jobs last month,…

Economists did not believe it was possible, but they've been wrong a lot lately, and in their defense it has only ever happened once before: We may be witnessing that rare achievement known as a soft landing. The US Federal Reserve's latest forecast expects the inflation rate to slide back down to 2% without much job loss or economic slowdown.

Even the Federal Reserve got disoriented, predicting an economic downturn at the beginning of the year and then yanking that prediction over the summer. This waffling peeved some major players in the financial industry, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who called the Fed out for providing unreliable guidance and being "100 percent dead wrong."

With economic forecasters rewriting their 2024 outlooks following recent moves from the Federal Reserve, The Conversation turned to two financial economists to share their thoughts on the upcoming year. D. Brian Blank and Brandy Hadley are professors who study finance, firm financial decisions and the economy. The U.S. economy is not in a recession and will…

In the House of Representatives, the GOP's "number-one priority for health care reform" is lowering health insurance premiums. If Republicans had their way, 4.8 million Texans would lose protection for their preexisting conditions, according to the Biden administration. To give Republicans their due, it is certainly true that premiums in the exchanges are…

With economic forecasters rewriting their 2024 outlooks following recent moves from the Federal Reserve, The Conversation turned to two financial economists to share their thoughts on the upcoming year. D. Brian Blank and Brandy Hadley are professors who study finance, firm financial decisions and the economy. The U.S. economy is not in a recession and will…

It's been a rough couple of years, economically speaking, as consumers and businesses accustomed to years of essentially free money, courtesy of the Federal Reserve, had to adjust on the fly to the sudden spike in interest rates. The Fed appears poised to provide relief in the new year. Rates on 10- year Treasury bonds now are 3.9%, down from 4.9% less than two months…

It's been a rough couple of years, economically speaking, as consumers and businesses accustomed to years of essentially free money, courtesy of the Federal Reserve, had to adjust on the fly to the sudden spike in interest rates. The Fed appears poised to provide relief in the new year. Rates on 10- year Treasury bonds now are 3.9%, down from 4.9% less than two months…

Growth in third-quarter gross domestic product growth was 4.9%, while the European Union's was near zero, and Germany may pull the continent into recession. The Federal Reserve and European Central Bank have enjoyed notable progress in pulling down inflation. For Mr. Biden, that’ s bad news.