Financial related news.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Call it the Goldilocks consumer. Defying high inflation and sharp interest rate hikes, Americans keep spending — a trend that, if sustained, could keep the economy humming just enough to help avoid a much-predicted recession. At the same time, surveys show that consumers on average don't expect today's still-high inflation to last [...]
NEW YORK — The price of natural gas used to heat homes and generate electricity is plunging this year, thanks to a mild winter in the United States and Europe — bringing some relief to consumers and helping drive down inflation. The fuel, which in the United States is extracted mainly from shale deposits in [...]
It's been a bumpy ride for mortgage companies lately. Some lenders have gone out of business, merged with other companies or narrowed their focus. More changes are likely in 2023. WHAT'S BEHIND THE SHAKEOUT? A key factor: higher mortgage rates. Demand for home loans plummeted last year as the Federal Reserve raised a key interest [...]
The IRS announced late last week that most relief checks issued by states last year aren't subject to federal taxes, providing 11th hour guidance as tax returns start to pour in. A week after telling payment recipients to delay filing returns, the IRS said it won't challenge the taxability of payments related to general welfare [...]
LOS ANGELES — Homeowners are increasingly tapping their equity, taking advantage of big gains following years of soaring housing prices. Some 333,537 home equity loans were taken out by homeowners in the third quarter last year, according to data from TransUnion. That's about a 47 percent increase from the same quarter in 2021, the most [...]
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said this week that if the job market further strengthens in the coming months or inflation readings accelerate, the Fed might have to raise its benchmark interest rate higher than it now projects. Powell's remarks followed the government's blockbuster report last week that employers added 517,000 jobs in [...]
NEW YORK — You may be sick of politics, but Wall Street is just getting to its favorite part of the presidential calendar. The third year of the presidential cycle has historically been the best for the stock market. Going back to the start of 1945, the S&P 500 has risen an average of 15.9 [...]
NEW YORK (AP) — Hindenburg Research, the financial research firm with an explosive name and a track record of sending the stock prices of its targets tumbling, is taking on one of the world's richest men. Hindenburg is back in the headlines after last week accusing Indian conglomerate Adani Group of "a brazen stock manipulation [...]
WASHINGTON — Pay and benefits for America's workers grew at a healthy but more gradual pace in the final three months of 2022, a third straight slowdown, which could help reassure the Federal Reserve that wage gains won't fuel higher inflation. Wages and benefits, such as health insurance, grew 1 percent in the October-December quarter [...]
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve is poised this week to raise its benchmark interest rate for an eighth time since March, but the Fed will likely announce a smaller hike for a second straight time and it could change some key wording in its post-meeting statement about future rate increases. A change in its [...]