The gold price started 2024 coming off December’s record highs. A combination of central bank buying and geopolitical uncertainty helped gold remain above US$2,100 per ounce for the first eight weeks of the year. However, a rally in early March gave gold renewed momentum. Support came on the back of…
New York Federal Reserve President John Williams on Thursday said inflation is still too high, but he is confident it will start decelerating later this year. With markets on edge over the direction of monetary policy, Williams offered no clear indication of his position on possible interest rate cuts. Instead,…
The pace of hiring remains strong for lower-earning Americans, holding steady above its pre-pandemic baseline even as the demand for higher-income workers has waned slightly, according to new data from Vanguard. The hires rate for the bottom third of workers by income (who earn less than $55,000 a year) was 1.5% in…
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped Friday for its best session of the year, as investors wrapped up a strong month after the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure came in largely around expectations. The blue-chip Dow climbed 574.84 points, or 1.51%, to 38,686.32, lifted by Salesforce and UnitedHealth’s respective advances of 7.5% and 2.8%. The S&P…
Inflation rose about as expected in April, with markets on edge over when interest rates might start coming down, according to a measure released Friday that is followed closely by the Federal Reserve. The personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy costs increased just 0.2% for the period, in line…
Retail’s biggest winners during first-quarter earnings aren’t thriving because consumers are suddenly spending more on discretionary goods — it’s because they’re executing well and cash-strapped shoppers are choosing them over competitors. If there’s one takeaway from results posted by the largest U.S. retailers over the last few weeks, it’s that shoppers are…
Tesla is recalling 125,227 vehicles in the United States due to a malfunction in its seat belt warning system that can increase the risk of injury in a collision, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Friday. The regulator said the vehicles failed to comply with the federal safety requirements…
Signed sales contracts on existing homes dropped 7.7% in April compared to March, the slowest pace since April 2020, according to the National Association of Realtors. These so-called pending sales are a forward-looking indicator of closed sales one to two months later. Pending sales were 7.4% lower than in April…
This is a historic and pivotal year for democracy across the globe. Around 70 countries – from the United States to South Africa, via Mexico and Taiwan – will hold elections in 2024. After India’s huge and ongoing six-week ballot, however, the biggest election in terms of voter numbers will happen next week, when 373 million Europeans can go…
The US and Chinese defense chiefs are holding a rare in-person meeting Friday as the two powers navigate a contentious security landscape across the Asia-Pacific and a range of frictions between them from China’s intimidation of Taiwan to American’s strengthening alliances in the region. The meeting, between US Defense Secretary…