Fed Officials Still Divided, Unsure About When and How Much To Cut Interest Rates

By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – Federal Reserve officials have continued this week to muse about cutting interest rates for the first time since December when the Fed’s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee meets in mid- September, but the FOMC remains divided and unsure. Despite an uptick in inflation, labor market worries have come to […]

US TARIFFS STATE OF PLAY: New Reciprocal Tariffs Don’t Dispel Uncertainty, Confusion 

–Trump Fires Head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because of alleged manipulation By Denny Gulino  WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – With new reciprocal levies raising America’s average tariff rate to above 18% and the latest jobs and ISM reports raising stagflation fears, the overall era of uncertainty seems to have intensified, not diminished.  The environment of […]

TRANSCRIPT: Fed’s Powell Stays Away From Promises of a September Rate Cut

.WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The following is a rough transcript of Wednesday afternoon’s post-FOMC meeting news conference with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell: Despite elevated uncertainty, the economy is in a solid position. The unemployment rate remains low and the labor market is at or near maximum employment. Inflation has been running somewhat above our 2% […]

FOMC: MINIMAL CHANGE IN OUTLOOK; STILL SEE TWO RATE CUTS THIS YEAR BUT SOMEWHAT LESS SO

WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The Federal Open Market Committee Wednesday made only minuscule adjustments to its outlook, still anticipating two rate cuts this year with slightly less enthusiasm. The Fed;s “dot plot” had seven participants seeing no rate moves this year while eight saw two rate cuts. Another two saw one rate cut. The FOMC’s economic […]

FOMC Stands Pat, Sees Risks Up for Both Unemployment, Inflation

WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The Federal Open Market Committee Wednesday, as expected, decided to maintain its policy rate and the only notable addition to the policy statement was that the Fed sees “the risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen.” The policy statement follows: Although swings in net exports have affected the data, recent […]