Dec 19 Watch 3:12 News Wrap: Outgoing Speaker Ryan laments 'broken politics' In our Wednesday news wrap, outgoing Speaker of the House Paul Ryan made his farewell speech in Washington, articulating concerns about what he called America’s “broken politics.” The Wisconsin Republican is retiring after 20 years on the Hill. Plus, Facebook… Continue watching
Dec 19 Watch 6:35 Markets drop as Fed signals it's not done raising interest rates yet In a sign of confidence in economic growth, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point, to its highest level in a decade. Fed chairman Jerome Powell said politics played "no role whatsoever" in the bank's… Continue watching
Dec 19 WATCH: Fed lifts rates for 4th time this year but sees fewer hikes ahead By Martin Crutsinger, Associated Press The quarter-point hike, to a range of 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent, lifted the Fed's benchmark rate to its highest point since 2008. The increase will mean higher borrowing costs for many consumers and businesses. Continue reading
Dec 13 Watch 8:48 Can a high school dropout turned top economist give a new perspective to the Fed? By Paul Solman Mary Daly dropped out of high school and ended up as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. As a part of our weekly series Making Sense, Paul Solman travels with Daly to Boise, Idaho, where through a… Continue watching
Dec 13 How the Federal Reserve works By Gretchen Frazee The Federal Reserve oversees three things: the nation's payment system, bank regulation and monetary policy. Continue reading
Dec 07 Why slower hiring in November isn't necessarily a bad thing By Gretchen Frazee The U.S. economy added 155,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate held steady at 3.7 percent. Continue reading
Nov 28 Debt of some U.S. businesses at historically high levels, Fed reports By Marcy Gordon, Associated Press American corporations have elevated their debt loads to potentially risky levels, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday in a report that raised concerns about the financial system 10 years after the 2008 crisis erupted. Continue reading
Nov 28 Stocks make biggest gain in months as Powell hints at slower interest rate hikes By Marley Jay, Associated Press In a speech to the Economic Club of New York, Powell said that rates are close to "neutral," the level at which they neither hold back growth nor aid it. That relieved investors who feel the nine-year-old bull market could… Continue reading
Nov 21 Home sales break 6-month losing streak, rising 1.4 percent By Paul Wiseman, Associated Press Despite the recent uptick, home sales are still down from a year ago, hurt by rising interest rates. Continue reading
Oct 16 Escalating attack, Trump calls the Federal Reserve his 'biggest threat' By Martin Crutsinger, Associated Press President Trump said he doesn't speak with Chairman Jerome Powell because of the Fed's political independence but said, "I'm not happy with what he's doing because it's going too fast" in raising rates at a time when inflation has remained… Continue reading