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The government reported that the economy added a better than expected 263,000 jobs in April. It was the 103rd straight month of job growth, the longest streak on record. Nearly ten years into the expansion, job creation is 205,000 for the first four months of 2019, just above the monthly amount added since the labor market bottomed out in 2010.
Welcome to the third government shutdown of 2018! Did you forget about the first two? In January, there was a three-day closure, and then in February, there was the one-day sequel. In both of those instances, investors shrugged off the news and stocks actually edged up during those days-long shutdowns.
Short-term interest rates are higher after the Fed raised rates Wednesday by a quarter point, to a range of 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent. It's the fourth rise this year and the highest level since 2008. The Dow closed down almost 352 points after the announcement, the lowest close of the year. How does the rate rise impact Americans? I discussed on CBS This Morning.
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The U.S. economy is experiencing “a particularly bright moment,” according to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, which is why Fed officials increased interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to a new range of 2 to 2.25 percent and are likely to hike one more time by the end of the year. The strength is likely to persist into next year. According to the central bank’s “dot plot,” which is intended to forecast future actions, there will be four rate hikes by the end of 2019.
The Federal Reserve says a "resilient economy" is one reason why it's raising a key interest rate for the second time this year. The central bank increased the short-term rate a quarter point to a range of 1.75 to 2 percent. The Fed also predicts four rate hikes this year after an earlier forecast of three. I joined CBS This Morning to discuss what this means for you.
Have a money question? Email me here.
After stock markets powered forward (NASDAQ and Russell 2000 hit new all-time highs) and contentious trade talk continued, this week, the focus turns to the Federal Reserve. For the second time this year, policy makers are expected to raise short-term interest rates by a quarter of a percent to a new range of 1.75 to 2 percent. If so, it would be the sixth quarter-point bump since the current rate tightening cycle started in December 2015.
If you feel like things are more expensive, you are right. Despite a slightly weaker than expected inflation report in April, this year, prices have accelerated faster than Fed officials anticipated just a few months ago. Last week we learned that headline inflation increased to a 14-month high of 2.5 percent from a year ago in April, due in large part to rising gas prices. Excluding food and energy the core rate increased by 2.1 percent.
What happened to the tax cut bump to economic growth? After expanding by a brisk 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and the 3.3 percent rate in the third quarter, the economy decelerated a bit in the first quarter to an annualized pace of 2.3 percent, consistent with good, not great growth.
Stocks dropped by nearly 3 percent Thursday and another 2 percent on Friday, closing out the steepest one-week percentage decline for US indexes since January 2016. The proximate cause was President Trump's announcement that the U.S. would levy 25 percent tariffs on up to $60 billion dollars worth of Chinese imports.
