As the cost of owning a home has skyrocketed over the last few years, some Americans are venting their frustrations by blaming the government for high housing prices. Nearly 90% of Americans said it’s too expensive to purchase a home right now, according to a survey of 1,386 people in the U.S., aged 46 and…
A blowout surge in May nonfarm payrolls isn’t denting expectations among fed-funds futures traders for policy makers to leave rates on hold this month — and that’s helping stocks rally sharply on Friday. Fed-funds futures traders priced in a 27.6% probability the Federal Reserve will lift its key rate by 25 basis points at its…
The numbers: The U.S. added a muscular 339,000 new jobs in May, underscoring the resilience of the economy in the face of rising borrowing costs. Employment gains in April and March were also considerably higher than previously reported, the government reported Friday, in another sign the labor market remains unusually strong. Wall Street had forecast…
A private gauge of China’s factory activity bounced back to expansionary territory in May, the first improvement in the health of the manufacturing sector since February. The China Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to 50.9 in May from 49.5 in April, according to data released Thursday by Caixin Media Co. and S&P Global. …
The official gauge of China’s manufacturing activity fell deeper into contraction in May, signaling further cooling of momentum in the post-pandemic recovery. China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index fell to 48.8 in May, from 49.2 in April, the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday. The result was also below the 49.7…
The numbers: Home prices rose in March as home sellers held out on listing their homes, constraining supply. Despite elevated mortgage rates, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city house price index rose 0.5% in March, as compared to the previous month. Home prices were strongest in the Southeast, while prices in the West continued to drag….
The bond market hasn’t been this popular for over a decade. For almost 15 years after the financial crisis of 2008, bond yields remained low and the U.S. stock market was much more appealing. That’s no longer the case. Treasury bills TMUBMUSD01Y, 5.246%, which are arguably the safest debt, are now offering yields well above…
If the jam-packed Memorial Day travel conditions have you thinking there must be an investment play in all the chaos, you are right. Post-pandemic wanderlust is real. It is only going to pick up from here. And the trend is not yet fully priced in to travel-related stocks. Here’s more detail on three key business…
Americans are job hopping, although not always by choice. More than 199,000 global technology-sector employees have been laid off since the start of 2023, according to data compiled by the website Layoffs.fyi. The number of global tech layoffs has risen almost eightfold since mid-January. Facebook owner Meta META, +2.61% is one of a number of…
Treasury yields eased Friday ahead of the release of key inflation data. What’s happening The yield on the 2-year Treasury TMUBMUSD02Y, 4.497% was 4.51%, down 3.6 basis points. Yields move in the opposite direction to prices. The yield on the 10-year Treasury TMUBMUSD10Y, 3.784% was 3.8%, down 2.5 basis points. The yield on the 30-year…
The numbers: The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits before Memorial Day weekend totaled a low 229,000 after Massachusetts took dramatic steps to weed out a massive increase in fraud. New jobless claims in the seven days ended May 20 rose by 4,000 from 225,000 in prior week, the Labor Department said Thursday….
South Korea’s central bank stood pat on interest rates for a third straight policy decision and lowered its economic growth forecast for this year. The Bank of Korea kept the benchmark seven-day repurchase rate unchanged at 3.50% on Thursday as widely expected, continuing a pause in its rate-increase campaign aimed at fighting inflation. The bank’s…
The latest inflation data coming out of the U.K. shows that price pressures are lingering, and that other developed nations are further behind than the U.S. in fighting inflation. The U.K. Office for National Statistics reported that consumer prices fell to 8.7% year-over-year in April from 10.1%, a growth rate that nonetheless was higher than…
The numbers: The biggest part of the U.S. economy sped up in May, S&P Global surveys showed, but manufacturers lagged behind. The S&P Flash U.S. services-sector index rose to a 13-month high of 55.1 in May from 53.6 in the prior month. Most Americans are employed on the service side of the economy: High-tech, health…
The housing market has cooled in recent years, but it’s still hot in some parts of the U.S. “It’s an exciting time to be a realtor in Gainesville,” said Dani Burns, who joined the real-estate profession 21 years ago, and who now works with Keller Williams Lanier Partners. Out of the 15 homes she’s sold…
The numbers: Sales of previously-owned homes in the U.S. fell 3.4% in April for the second month in a row, as buyers continue to deal with low levels of home listings and see-sawing mortgage rates. Sales of existing homes in the U.S. fell to an annual rate of 4.28 million in April, the National Association…
Linda Palmer usually sees a couple of hundred people line up for bags of produce, milk, eggs and more as she volunteers at her local food bank’s biweekly, hourlong distribution in the parking lot near the senior center in Hercules, Calif. But as she helped people sign in during one recent shift, she said, “we…
We want to hear from readers who have stories to share about the effects of increasing costs and a changing economy. If you’d like to share your experience, write to [email protected]. Please include your name and the best way to reach you. A reporter may be in touch. Americans looking for housing in April faced median…
Here’s a summary of how the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 SPX, -0.14% have performed his year and how forward price-to-earnings ratios compare to valuation levels at the end of 2021: Sector or index 2023 return 2022 return Return since end of 2021 3-year return 5 year return Forward P/E Forward P/E at end…
Confidence among U.K. consumers improved for the fourth month in a row in May amid signs of easing inflation, despite the squeeze on spending prompted by climbing interest rates. Research firm GfK said its consumer-confidence barometer stood at minus 27 in May, compared with minus 30 a month earlier, matching expectations from economists polled by…