FRANKFURT, Germany—Europe’s painful inflation has inched higher, extending the squeeze on households and keeping pressure on the European Central Bank to unleash what could be another large interest rate increase. Consumer prices in the 20 countries using the euro currency jumped 7 percent in April from a year earlier, just up from the annual rate…

Commentary What can breakeven inflation rates tell us about oil prices, energy stocks, and market direction? It turns out it’s a lot more than you think. Since 2021, as the impact of an economic shutdown collided with $5 trillion in artificial, stimulus-driven demand, inflation has consumed everything from headlines to financial markets and the Fed’s…

Traders of futures tied to the Federal Reserve’s policy rate have stuck to their bets of a quarter percentage point interest rate hike this week. It caps a tumultuous week in which money market pricing experienced wild swings, with predictions of a 50 basis point move jettisoned after the collapse of two large regional U.S….

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell had a clear message on Wednesday: as “gratifying” as it is that inflation has begun to slow, the central bank is nowhere near to reversing course or declaring victory. “It’s going to take some time” for disinflation to spread through the economy, Powell said in a news conference following the…

Two months before he became Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell urged a gradual approach to raising interest rates so that the U.S. central bank could more adequately assess the true strength of the labor market against tepid inflation, foreshadowing a cautiousness on policy that would persist under his leadership until the coronavirus crisis and its…

Federal Reserve policymakers on Thursday expressed relief that inflation continued easing in December, paving the way for a possible step down to a quarter-point interest rate increase when the U.S. central bank meets in just under three weeks. U.S. consumer prices fell in December in the first month-to-month decline in more than 2–1/2 years, and…

BEIJING—China’s annual consumer inflation rate accelerated in December, driven by rising food prices even as domestic demand wavered amid restrained economic activity. Economists expect inflation to continue to pick up in the first quarter of 2023. The consumer price index (CPI) in December was 1.8 percent higher than a year earlier, rising faster than the…

BEIJING—China’s annual consumer inflation rate accelerated in December, driven by rising food prices even as domestic demand wavered amid restrained economic activity. Economists expect inflation to continue to pick up in the first quarter of 2023. The consumer price index (CPI) in December was 1.8 percent higher than a year earlier, rising faster than the…

FRANKFURT—The European Central Bank raised interest rates for the fourth time in a row on Thursday, although by less than at its last two meetings, pledged further hikes and laid out plans to drain cash from the financial system as part of its fight against runaway inflation. The ECB has been raising rates at an…

San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly said on Monday the real-world impact of the U.S. central bank’s interest rate hikes is likely greater than what its short-term rate target implies. Against the Fed’s current short-term target rate of between 3.75 percent and 4.00 percent , Daly said some researchers have found “the level of…