The American consumer, whose willingness to spend drives the economy, showed signs of faltering in March as retail sales fell by 1 percent, a far sharper decline than analysts expected and five times lower than the prior month’s 0.2 percent pullback. Consumer spending accounts for around 70 percent of U.S. economic output and retail sales…
American Consumers Show Signs of Weakness as Retail Sales Drop Sharply
JPMorgan Chase Profits Jump 52 Percent Amid Banking Turmoil
JPMorgan Chase & Co. posted a 52 percent jump in its first-quarter profits, helped by higher interest rates, which allowed the bank to charge customers more for loans. The bank saw deposits grow noticeably, as business and customers flocked to the banking titan after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank last month….
Canada May Avoid Official ‘Recession’ but Comparative Living Standards Continue to Fall
Commentary The late U.S. president Ronald Reagan famously said in the 1980 election that “Recession is when your neighbour loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.” He went on to win the presidency in large measure because Americans wanted a return to economic prosperity. This…
Elon Musk Warns of ‘Tough Sledding’ Ahead for US Economy
Elon Musk predicted that the U.S. economy will be in for a hard slog until at least the spring of 2024, joining a growing list of ominous warnings about America’s economic outlook after a series of recent high-profile bank failures. “Tough sledding until spring next year is my best guess,” the Tesla CEO said in…
Dollar Set for Longest Stretch of Weekly Losses Since 2020
LONDON—The dollar headed for its longest stretch of weekly losses in almost three years on Friday, as traders ramped up expectations of an imminent end to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate-hike cycle following signs that inflation may be cooling. Data on Thursday showed U.S. wholesale prices, as measured by the producer price index (PPI), fell…
Oil Gains After IEA Sees Demand Rising to Record High
LONDON—Oil prices rose on Friday after the West’s energy watchdog said it expected global demand to rise to a record high this year on the back of a recovery in Chinese consumption. The International Energy Agency (IEA) also warned that output cuts announced by OPEC+ producers could exacerbate an oil supply deficit and hurt consumers….
Global Stocks Rise After US Inflation Cools
BEIJING—Global stock markets rose Friday after U.S. inflation eased in March and China reported strong exports. London and Frankfurt opened higher. Shanghai, Tokyo, and Hong Kong advanced. Oil prices rose. Wall Street futures were lower, giving up part of Thursday’s gains after U.S. inflation at the wholesale level slowed more than expected. Asian markets were…
Head of German Central Bank Sees No Recession on Horizon for Europe
Deutsche Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said he does not believe the European Union will experience a recession in 2023, arguing that the latter half of the year is showing promising signs of recovery. Speaking at the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group on Thursday, the central banker highlighted…
Is This Finally Some Tolerable Inflation News?
Commentary For reasons I don’t get, the whole of financial markets is obsessed with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) but the Producer Price Index (PPI) is largely ignored. It hardly makes the headlines. That makes no sense because everything we consume (except maybe bugs) has to be produced. The consumer experience of inflation is downstream…
UK Economy Flatlines in February After Recovering to Pre-Pandemic Levels
There has been no monthly growth in the UK’s economy in February, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated on Thursday. Teacher and civil service strikes may have acted as one of the biggest drags on GDP, with thousands of workers walking out during the month. But revised GDP figures for January showed that the economy…
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