Shares rose in Asia, sidestepping losses on Wall Street following hotter-than-expected core inflation that heightened the focus on the Federal Reserve’s next move. Japanese and South Korean stocks opened higher while those in Australia slipped. US equity futures also edged higher, after the S&P 500 fell 0.2% and the Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.1% Thursday. A … Read more
U.S. worker productivity grew faster than initially thought in the second quarter, reining in labor costs, suggesting that inflation pressures could continue to subside. Nonfarm productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, increased at a 2.5% annualized rate last quarter, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Thursday. That was an upward revision … Read more
U.S. inflation rose moderately in March, but that is unlikely to change financial markets’ expectations that the Federal Reserve will hold off cutting interest rates until September. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index increased 0.3% last month, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Friday. Data for February was unrevised to show … Read more
Production at U.S. factories increased solidly in March as output at motor vehicle assembly plants and elsewhere rose, suggesting that manufacturing was turning the corner after being constrained by higher borrowing costs. Manufacturing output rose 0.5% last month after an upwardly revised 1.2% rebound in the prior month, the Federal Reserve said on Tuesday. Factory … Read more
New York: US stocks fell Wednesday on worries that what seemed like a blip in the battle to bring down inflation is turning into a trend. The S&P 500 was 1.2% lower in a wipeout where nine out of 10 stocks in the index fell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 514 points, or … Read more
Gold prices opened on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) on Thursday at Rs 66,497 per 10 grams and hit an intraday low of Rs 66,465. In the international market, prices hovered around $2,196.32 per ounce. Meanwhile, silver opened at Rs 74,779 per kg and hit an intraday low of Rs 74,744 on the MCX. In the … Read more
The UK-based cosmetics company, The Body Shop, shut down all of its US-based operations and will soon be closing dozens of Canadian store locations after filing for bankruptcy, CNN reported. Earlier this month, The Body Shop, in an official release, announced that its US subsidiary was no longer operational, effective March 1. It further added … Read more
US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell on Thursday rattled financial markets worldwide by saying that the central bank was not yet confident that interest rates were at a sufficiently restrictive level to bring inflation to its 2% target. The statement, which leaves the door open for more Fed rate hikes, yanked five-year US bond yields … Read more
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said recent consumer-price data showing inflation easing was “promising,” though inflation is still higher than policymakers’ 2% goal. “It’s at least promising that this week we got inflation numbers that show inflation is coming down at a pretty rapid clip,” Goolsbee said Friday in an interview with … Read more
Ahead of the US inflation report later in the day, investors remained on edge on Dalal Street as equity indices closed in the red for the third straight day on Thursday in a volatile trading session. Index heavyweight , banking and financial stocks were a drag on the indices. The BSE Sensex index ended 147 … Read more