WASHINGTON (AP) — Janet Yellen’s Federal Reserve has demonstrated one of the core tenets of central banking: On the Fed panel that sets interest rates, some votes are more equal than others. The panel — the Federal Open Market Committee — voted Wednesday to keep rates unchanged, something it’s done for six straight meetings. What [...]
WASHINGTON — The world’s key central banks have worked themselves into contortions to try to rev up economic growth, raise inflation and coax consumers and businesses to borrow and spend more. They’ve pumped trillions into financial systems and driven interest rates about as low as they can go — even below zero in Europe and [...]
NEW YORK (AP) — The lenders who advance poor people money on their paychecks charge exorbitant interest rates that often snare the most vulnerable customers in a cycle of debt, the industry’s critics have long said. Yet even consumer advocates who loathe the industry admit it fulfills a need: Providing small amounts of cash quickly [...]