Tag: Federal Open Market Committee

U.S. Economic Growth Beats Expectations in Second Quarter

Michigan Star Staff

The U.S. economy grew at a rate of 2.8 percent in the second quarter of 2024, according to gross domestic product (GDP) statistics released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) on Thursday.

Higher growth in the second quarter follows poor growth in the first quarter of 2024, which measured 1.4 percent after being revised down from an initial estimate of 1.6 percent, according to the BEA. Economists expected that GDP would increase by around 2.1 percent in the second quarter of 2024, in line with typical U.S economic growth rates.

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More Investors Bet Inflation Is Here to Stay amid Disappointing Price Data

Michigan Star Staff
Investor at Work

More investors are projecting a “no landing” scenario where inflation remains elevated but economic growth continues at its current levels following a disappointing inflation report on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

Nearly one out of five fund managers polled by Bank of America predicted a “no landing” scenario as the most likely outcome in the next year, with concerns about such a scenario being intensified by a poor inflation reading that sent U.S. markets into a frenzy on Tuesday, according to Reuters. Tuesday’s consumer price index (CPI) report showed inflation decelerated in January to 3.1% year-over-year from 3.4% in the preceding month, higher than expectations of 2.9%.

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Investors Say They are Betting Inflation Is Here to Stay

Michigan Star Staff
Wall Street sign

Investors bet on the U.S. entering an era of sustained high inflation as Treasury yields spike, according to Reuters.

The bond market has seen a surge in interest rates for 10-year Treasury yields, reaching 4.59 percent, the highest point since September 2007 before the country was sent into a recession just months later, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The state of the bond market indicates that investors believe that the age of low inflation and interest rates is over as the country enters a “high-pressure equilibrium,” driving inflation higher than what was previously considered normal, according to Reuters.

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Fed Hike Rates .025 Percent as Inflation Fears Loom

Just the News

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised interest rates by 25 basis points, issuing an 0.25 percent hike in line with earlier expectations in a move that signals a rate slowdown in the Fed’s fight against inflation. The Fed said in a statement that its Federal Open Market Committee “anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range” will still be necessary “in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time,” a sign that the central bank will be looking to more rate hikes in the near future.

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Federal Reserve Indicates Interest Rate Hike Arriving in March

Admin

With both volatile markets and significant inflation in the mix, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday indicated that it may soon raise interest rates for the first time in more than three years.

“With inflation well above 2 percent and a strong labor market, the committee expects it will soon be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate,” the body said n a highly anticipated statement following its meeting.

The Federal Open Market Committee added that the central bank’s monthly bond-buying will proceed at just $30 billion in February, signaling that the program could come to an end in March as the interest rate increases.

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