Fed’s pandemic-era vow to prioritize employment may soon be tested
Washington — Four years after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made fighting unemployment a bigger priority during the COVID-19 pandemic, he faces a pivotal test of that commitment amid rising joblessness, mounting evidence inflation is under control, and a benchmark…
Wall Street week ahead — ‘Soft landing’ hopes are back to lift US stocks after recession scare
NEW YORK — Hopes for an economic soft landing are once again powering U.S. stocks higher, as encouraging data relieve recession worries following a brutal sell-off earlier this month. The S&P 500 .SPX has rebounded more than 6% since Aug….
Harris to roll out populist proposals in first economic speech
WASHINGTON — Kamala Harris is set to unveil plans for a federal ban on food and grocery “price gouging,” a tax credit that would provide $6,000 per child to families for the first year of a baby’s life, and up…
US consumer inflation hits its lowest annual rate since 2021
U.S. consumer inflation moderated slightly in July, according to government data released Wednesday. The Consumer Price Index increased by 2.9% over the past year, the smallest rise since March 2021. This is a positive sign for the Federal Reserve, which…
Growing number of Chinese now call Japan home
Washington — Sun Lijun, a 42-year-old semiconductor engineer, says worries about the quality of air and living, childhood education and the overall economic trajectory in China are some of the reasons he and his wife first started talking about moving…
International Youth Day puts South Asia’s skills gap in sharp focus
Washington — South Asia’s youth bulge is a ticking time bomb. A demographic dividend looms, but millions of young people lack the job skills to cash in, choking the region’s economic potential. Almost half of South Asia’s population of 1.9…
US officials to travel to China for economic meetings
Senior American officials are due to visit China this week, the U.S. government said Monday, seeking to keep ties between the world’s two biggest economies steady despite simmering trade tensions. The trip to Shanghai will be for talks under a…
Americans’ refusal to keep paying higher prices may be dealing a final blow to US inflation spike
Washington — The great inflation spike of the past three years is nearly spent — and economists credit American consumers for helping slay it. Some of America’s largest companies, from Amazon to Disney to Yum Brands, say their customers are…
Global youth unemployment falls to 15-year low, but post-COVID recovery uneven
Geneva — Global youth unemployment rates fell to 13% in 2023, a 15-year low. But a new study by the International Labor Organization warns the post-COVID economic recovery is uneven, with some regions seeing an increase in the number of…
Rollercoaster week in US stocks leaves investors braced for bumps ahead
New York — A week of wild market swings has investors looking ahead to inflation data, corporate earnings and presidential polls for signals that could soothe a recent outbreak of turbulence in U.S. stocks. Following months of placid trading, U.S….