US inflation last month likely reached its lowest point since February 2021, clearing the way for another Federal Reserve rate cut and adding to the stream of encouraging economic data that has emerged in the final weeks of the presidential campaign. The consumer price index is expected to have risen just 2.3% in September from 12 months earlier, down from the 2.5% year-over-year increase in August, according to economists surveyed by FactSet, a data provider. A reading that low, likely reflecting lower gas prices and only a slight rise in food costs, would barely exceed the Fed's 2% inflation target. A little over two years ago, inflation had reached a peak of 9.1%. Measured month over month, consumer prices are thought to have risen a scant 0.1% from August to September, down from a 0.2% increase the previous month. The improving inflation data follows a mostly healthy jobs report released last week, which showed that hiring accelerated in September and that the unemployment rate
The interventionist, anti-trade, and anti-finance policies of the US administration haven't helped the vice-president's campaign
The US Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday reduced the lending rate to 4.75-5.00 per cent from 5.25-5.50 per cent, a larger than expected cut
Oil prices were steady in early trading after dropping in the previous sessions on weak demand and supply woes
The market is closely watching key US data and Federal Reserve's rate action as these will be directional cues
Inventories increased 2.1 per cent year-on-year in June
The RBI MPC on Thursday decided to keep its repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent for the ninth consecutive time, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced
The overall sentiment in oil remains bearish and we expect prices to see further sell towards the support of $70 and $68 per barrel, says Mohammed Imran of Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.
ISM's measure of services employment increased to 51.1 - growing for the first time since January - from 46.1 in June, second-largest in more than three years
US job growth slowed more than expected in July and unemployment increased to 4.3 per cent, pointing to raising fears of a possible recession
The employment report also showed increase in annual wages last month was smallest in more than three years, effectively sealing the case for the U.S. central bank to cut interest rates in September
The economy, which continues to outperform its global peers despite hefty rate hikes from the Fed in 2022 and 2023, remains supported by a resilient labor market even as the unemployment rate has rise
The first night of the Republican National Convention kept its official focus on the economy Monday even after Saturday's shooting at a rally in Pennsylvania in which former President Donald Trump was injured. Speakers argued that Trump would fix inflation and bring back prosperity simply by returning to the White House as president. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin lamented, Tonight, America, the land of opportunity, just doesn't feel like that anymore. But Trump has released few hard numbers and no real policy language or legislative blueprints, and most of the speakers Monday didn't get into details either. Instead, his campaign is betting that voters care more about attitude than policy specifics. Trump says he wants tariffs on trade partners and no taxes on tips. He would like to knock the corporate tax rate down a tick. The Republican platform also promises to defeat inflation and quickly bring down all prices, in addition to pumping out more oil, natural gas and coal. The ..
The American economy expanded at a 1.4 per cent annual pace from January through March, the slowest quarterly growth since spring 2022, the government said Thursday in a slight upgrade from its previous estimate. Consumer spending grew just 1.5 per cent, down from an initial estimate of 2 per cent in a sign that high interest rates may be taking a toll on the economy. The Commerce Department had previously estimated that the gross domestic product the economy's total output of goods and services advanced at a 1.3 per cent rate last quarter. The first quarter's GDP growth marked a sharp pullback from a strong 3.4 per cent pace during the final three months of 2023. Still, Thursday's report showed that the January-March slowdown was caused mainly by two factors a surge in imports and a drop in business inventories that can bounce around from quarter to quarter and don't necessarily reflect the underlying health of the economy. Imports shaved 0.82 percentage point off first-quarter
However, for 2025, Fitch expects world growth to edge down to 2.4 per cent as US growth slows to a below-trend rate of 1.5 per cent and growth in the Eurozone picks up to 1.5 per cent
The Labour Department's closely watched employment report on Friday is also expected to show the unemployment rate remained below 4 per cent for the 28th straight month
Spot gold was up 0.2% at $2,331.84 per ounce as of 09:49 a.m. ET (1349 GMT), after posting a 2% gain last month. Prices hit an all-time high of $2,449.89 on May 20
Browning elaborates on the implications of US growth for financial markets
The labor market is steadily rebalancing in the wake of 525 basis points worth of interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve since March 2022 to slow demand in the overall economy
During this period, US monthly inflation data cooled for the first time in six months, while retail sales stagnated in April, boosting odds for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts