A growing body of analysts and researchers see a pattern of companies using unusual disruptions as an excuse to raise prices for their goods and services, thereby allowing them to expand profit margins.
Jerome Powell’s more nuanced remarks Wednesday appeared to be an effort to quell any assumption that the Fed has already decided to raise rates more aggressively based on a recent string of data that pointed to strong economic growth and still-high inflation.
For 20 straight months, employers have posted at least 10 million openings—a level never reached before 2021 in Labor Department data going back to 2000.
Jerome Powell’s comments reflect a sharp change in the economic outlook since the Fed’s most recent policy meeting in early February.
The survey adds to evidence that informal work has been increasingly prevalent in the U.S. economy, a trend further exacerbated by the pandemic, social media and remote work.
Here’s a closer look at the economy’s vital signs at a perplexing time of high interest rates, still-punishing inflation and surprisingly strong economic gains.
A third of the economists who responded to the survey now expect a recession to begin in the April-June quarter. One-fifth think it will start in the July-September quarter.
January’s price data exceeded forecasters’ expectations, confounding hopes that inflation was steadily decelerating and that the Fed could relent on its campaign of rate hikes.
Thursday’s report revised down the government’s estimate of consumer spending growth in the October-December quarter. Business spending also slowed in the fourth quarter, suggesting that the economy lost momentum at the end of 2022.
The office’s updated 10-year Budget and Economic Outlook outlined stark expectations for the decade ahead.
The U.S. economy showed remarkable resilience at the start of the year, highlighting robust demand that’s keeping inflation elevated and heaping pressure on the Federal Reserve to stomp the brakes even harder.
Tuesday’s consumer price report from the government showed that inflationary pressures in the U.S. economy remain high and are likely to fuel price spikes well into this year.
January’s job growth far exceeded December’s 260,000 total and extended a streak of powerful hiring gains that raised concerns at the Federal Reserve about inflation pressures.
The latest data—released Wednesday—underscores how a combination of rising interest rates, waning demand for merchandise, and economic uncertainty are weighing on factory activity.
American consumers are kicking off 2023 a bit less confident than they were at the end of last year as inflation and the possibility of a recession loom.
Pay and benefits for America’s workers grew at a healthy but more gradual pace in the final three months of 2022, the third straight slowdown that could help reassure the Federal Reserve that wage gains won’t fuel higher inflation.
The International Monetary Fund, a 190-country lending organization, foresees inflation easing this year, a result of aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and other major central banks.
With signs of weaker economic growth along with steadily lower inflation readings, reduced consumer spending and even some signs of a slowdown in the job market, the Federal Reserve is now navigating a more treacherous terrain.
The figures added to mounting evidence that the worst bout of inflation in a generation has passed as the Fed’s aggressive tightening campaign works its way through the economy.
The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge eased further in December, and consumer spending fell — the latest evidence that the Fed’s series of interest rate hikes are slowing the economy.
