Tag: interest rates

Two-Year U.S. Treasury Yields Hit 16 Year High, as Investors Are Spooked by Latest Jobs Report

The latest U.S. jobs report led investors to raise the yield on the 2-year Treasury note to its highest level in 16 years while dumping their stocks. There was serious concern that strong U.S. employment levels would encourage the Federal Reserve to continue raising interest rates. The latest jobs estimate from ADP put pressure on…


Toronto Home Sales and Prices up From Last June, Down From May: TRREB

Toronto homebuyers that snapped up a property last month paid more on average than they did a year ago but less than they would have if they closed the deal in May, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board said Thursday. The Ontario housing board made the same observation about last month’s sales figures and attributed…


Reserve Bank of Australia Pauses Interest Rate Hike in July

Australians have narrowly avoided a new round of interest rate hikes after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) decided to keep the official cash rate unchanged in July. In its latest board meeting, the RBA announced that it would maintain the current official cash rate of 4.1 percent throughout July. The central bank said the…


Fed Pauses: More Hikes to Come

Commentary Federal Reserve (Fed) Board Chairman Jerome Powell has made himself and Fed guidelines clear. Although the board voted in June to pause the pattern of raising interest rates, policymakers are not finished with their anti-inflation efforts and will likely raise rates again before they are done. Powell explained that the June pause was just…


Banks Have Questions to Answer Over Interest Rate Rises for Savers, Says Minister

Banks have questions to answer about how quickly they have been passing on interest rate rises to savers, a Cabinet minister has said. Last week, the Bank of England raised interest rates from 4.5 to 5 percent, a level last seen in April 2008. It was the 13th consecutive rate increase in 18 months, putting…


Britons Need to ‘Hold Our Nerve’ Amid Soaring Interest Rates, Says Sunak

Britons need to “hold our nerve” with interest rate hikes as “there is no alternative” to stamping out inflation, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said. Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, he defended the Bank of England’s (BoE’s) decision to raise interest rates from 4.5 to 5 percent, a 15-year high. It…


Banks Agree to Offer More Help to Struggling Mortgage Holders

Banks and building societies will offer more flexibility to mortgage holders struggling with high interest rates, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said after a meeting with major lenders in Downing Street. Top executives of banks and building societies were summoned to Downing Street on Friday to discuss ways to help mortgage holders following 13 consecutive interest…


Bank of England Hikes Interest Rates to Highest Level Since 2008

The Bank of England (BoE) has hiked interest rates from 4.5 percent to 5 percent, a more aggressive jump than previously expected. It’s the 13th consecutive rate increase in 18 months, and this level was last seen in April 2008 before the central bank began slashing rates during the financial crisis. The BoE was previously…


Federal Reserve Keeps Interest Rates Unchanged, Leaves Door Open to More Rate Hikes

For the first time in more than a year, the Federal Reserve has left interest rates unchanged but signaled that two more rate hikes are poised to happen this year. The benchmark federal funds rate held steady at a range of 5.00 and 5.25 percent, effectively ending the streak of ten consecutive rate hikes. “Holding…


American Consumer Credit Growth Last Month Rose to Its Fastest Pace Since November

U.S. consumer credit growth accelerated in April to the fastest pace since November 2022, according to recent data from the Federal Reserve. The June 7 data on consumer credit, or G.19, comes after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates in May by 25 basis points, to a range of 5.0–5.25 percent. Many economists are worried that…