At the Federal Reserve’s final gathering of 2024, Chair Jerome H. Powell announced that the U.S. central bank was embarking on a “new phase” in how it would set interest rates. The Fed planned to “move cautiously” with cuts going forward, Mr. Powell told reporters at the time, reflecting officials’ … Read more
A test for Trump’s cabinet pick For businesses and markets, perhaps the most important of the hearings for the incoming Trump administration’s Cabinet picks starts on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. Eastern. Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for Treasury secretary, will likely be confirmed by the Senate. But the billionaire … Read more
Employers stuck the landing in 2024, finishing the year with a bounce of hiring after a summer slowdown and an autumn marred by disruption. The economy added 256,000 jobs in December, seasonally adjusted, the Labor Department reported on Friday. The number handily beat expectations after two years of cooling in … Read more
Banks are on a winning streak, one that’s poised to intensify as President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office. Biden-appointed regulators at the Federal Reserve and other agencies presided over a relatively fruitless era of bank oversight. They tried to enact stricter rules for the nation’s biggest banks, hoping to create … Read more
The Federal Reserve Building in Washington, D.C. Joshua Roberts | Reuters The Federal Reserve announced Thursday that it will lower its benchmark rate by a quarter point, or 25 basis points, less than two days after President-elect Donald Trump won the 2024 election. Economic uncertainty was a prevailing mood heading into … Read more
Riska | E+ | Getty Images It may be a while longer before the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates, experts now say. That means savers can still earn the best returns on their cash in years, following a “nuclear winter for the better part of the last 15 years,” said … Read more
A new ETF is trying to capture profits in the municipal funds space. BondBloxx’s Joanna Gallegos is behind the IR+M Tax-Aware Short Duration ETF (TAXX) — which launched less than a month ago. “When you think about municipal bond portfolios, you really want people to think beyond them and look … Read more
