Financial related news.
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve will have to keep boosting its benchmark interest rate to a point that raises unemployment and gets inflation down from unusually high levels, two officials said in separate remarks this week. Susan Collins, the new president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, endorsed Fed projections released last week that [...]
WASHINGTON — Average long-term mortgage rates jumped by more than a quarter-point last week to their highest level since 2008 as the Federal Reserve intensified its effort to tamp down decades-high inflation and cool the economy. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported that the 30-year rate climbed to 6.29 percent, from 6.02 percent the previous week. [...]
MINNEAPOLIS — The Department of Justice has charged 48 people in Minnesota in what prosecutors have called a $250 million scheme to defraud a federal meals program. Prosecutors said just a fraction of the money went toward feeding kids, with the rest laundered through shell companies and spent on property, luxury cars and travel. Here's [...]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell bluntly warned in a speech last month that the Fed's drive to curb inflation by aggressively raising interest rates would "bring some pain." Today, Americans may get a better sense of how much pain could be in store. The Fed is expected at its latest meeting to [...]
NEW CARROLLTON, Md. — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen laid out her vision for a modernized, responsive, tech-savvy tax collection agency equipped to manage 21st century challenges last week at an IRS office in New Carrollton, Md. Yellen said the agency plans to hire 5,000 new customer service representatives to vastly improve taxpayer service before the [...]
WASHINGTON — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates climbed over 6 percent last week for the first time since the housing crash of 2008, threatening to sideline even more homebuyers from a rapidly cooling housing market. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported that the 30-year rate rose to 6.02 percent from 5.89 percent the previous week. The [...]
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans have grown fond of “buy now, pay later” services, but the “pay later” part is becoming increasingly difficult for some borrowers. Buy now, pay later loans allow users to pay for items such new sneakers, electronics or luxury goods in installments. Companies such as Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna and PayPal have [...]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation is showing signs of entering a more stubborn phase that will likely require drastic action by the Federal Reserve, a shift that has panicked financial markets and heightens the risks of a recession. Some of the longtime drivers of higher inflation — spiking gas prices, supply chain snarls, soaring used-car prices [...]
WASHINGTON — Sharply lower prices for gas and cheaper used cars slowed inflation in August for a second straight month, though many other items rose in price, indicating that inflation remains a heavy burden for American households. Consumer prices surged 8.3 percent in August compared with a year earlier, the government said. Though still painfully [...]
WASHINGTON — The last time the Federal Reserve faced inflation as high as it is now, in the early 1980s, it jacked up interest rates to double-digit levels — and in the process caused a deep recession and sharply higher unemployment. Chair Jerome Powell suggested last week that this time, the Fed won't have to [...]