Tag Archives: Federal Reserve

Q3 GDP Growth Fastest In 2 Years

Financial FAQs Third quarter GDP growth was the fastest in two years, aided by a spike in soybean and other U.S. exports and a rebound in the size of inventories companies keep on hand for sale, reports the U.S. Bureau … Continue reading

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Jobs Report—Not Yet Full Employment

Popular Economics Weekly The unemployment rate rose slightly to 5 percent for the first time since April, the government said Friday, though that was mainly because 444,000 people entered the labor force. There are still too many unemployed, in other … Continue reading

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Poverty Level Down, As Household Incomes Surge

Popular Economics Weekly Fewer Americans lived in poverty in 2015 and median incomes charted their first increase since the Great Recession, according to data released Tuesday by the Census Department. The official poverty rate fell 1.2 percentage points between 2014 … Continue reading

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Much More Housing Needed

The Mortgage Corner There’s an exception to the current low inflation prognostications echoed in my column by the San Francisco Fed Prez John Williams. It’s in housing, which is struggling to meet the surging demand for both new homes and … Continue reading

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No More Inflation?

Popular Economics Weekly San Francisco Fed President John Williams has said something that most Central Bankers won’t say. He believes the current low inflation, low growth economy could continue indefinitely, if something isn’t done differently. He writes in the FRBSF’s … Continue reading

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Should the Fed Raise Rates?

Financial FAQs It’s incredible that Janet Yellen’s Fed should even be talking about raising interest rates in June, or July. The Fed predicts no more than 2.5 percent GDP growth in Q2, after Q1’s 0.8 percent growth rate. And the … Continue reading

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April Private Payrolls Increase 171,000

Popular Economics Weekly But government payrolls lost 11,000 jobs, so total nonfarm payroll employment increased just 160,000 in April. Over the prior 12 months, employment growth had averaged 232,000 per month. The April jobs report was well below Wall Street’s … Continue reading

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Fed Stays in Accommodative Mode

Popular Economics Weekly It looks like Janet Yellen’s Fed will continue to keep interest rates low this year, based on the latest FOMC press release. This is great news for the housing market, in particular, but not necessarily for consumers … Continue reading

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Record Mortgage Originations in 2015, In Spite of FHFA

The Mortgage Corner In addition to very large Consumer credit borrowing that rose $17.2 billion in February (but excludes mortgage lending), the number of new first mortgages increased to a post-recession high in 2015, according to new data from credit … Continue reading

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U.S. Nearing Full Employment?

Popular Economics Weekly Are we approaching full employment will be the debate raging within the Federal Reserve and beyond this year. That’s because, “Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 215,000 in March, and the unemployment rate was little changed at … Continue reading

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