Economy

Companies added jobs at a solid pace in March, indicating that hiring is strong despite signs of a tightening labor market, payroll processing firm ADP reported Wednesday. Private payrolls expanded by 455,000 for the month, the firm said, about in line with the Dow Jones estimate of 450,000 though it was the lowest since August

The Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation measure showed intensifying price pressures in February, rising to its highest annual level since 1983, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Excluding food and energy prices, the personal consumption expenditures price index increased 5.4% from the same period in 2021, the biggest jump going back to April 1983. Including gas and

Amid soaring inflation and worries about a looming recession, the U.S. economy added slightly fewer jobs than expected in March as the labor market grew increasingly tighter. Nonfarm payrolls expanded by 431,000 for the month, while the unemployment rate was 3.6%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been

A home with a sign indicating that it is under contract to be sold is seen in a neighborhood of downtown Washington. Jim Bourg | Reuters In a grim sign for the housing market’s busiest season, pending home sales, which measure signed contracts on existing homes, fell 4.1% in February compared with January, according to the

The rate for the most common kind of mortgage just surged again. The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage shot significantly higher Friday, rising 24 basis points to 4.95%, according to Mortgage News Daily. It is now 164 basis points higher than it was one year ago. “That’s the second time this week, and

Just 60 years ago, the U.S. and the Soviet Union were at the height of a Cold War that nearly resulted in nuclear warfare. Today, experts say, the U.S. and its old foe, now Russia, are headed into another one. But it won’t be the same. “I think the second Cold War has already started,”

Prospective home buyers arrive with a realtor to a house for sale in Dunlap, Illinois. Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images A sharp increase in mortgage interest rates is taking its toll on loan demand, especially refinances. Total mortgage application volume fell 8.1% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage

A home is offered for sale on January 20, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. Scott Olson | Getty Images The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage hit 4.72% Tuesday, moving 26 basis points higher since just Friday, according to Mortgage News Daily. As a result of the recent spike in rates, economists are now

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell addresses an online only news conference in a frame grab from U.S. Federal Reserve video broadcast from the Federal Reserve building in Washington, U.S., January 26, 2022. U.S. Federal Reserve | via Reuters Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Monday vowed tough action on inflation, which he said jeopardizes

The Federal Reserve building in Washington, January 26, 2022. Joshua Roberts | Reuters The Federal Reserve is poised to announce its first interest rate hike since 2018 on Wednesday. The central bank is likely to raise its target federal funds rate by 25 basis points, or one-quarter of one percent, to address the worst inflation

A house for rent in Corona Del Mar, California. Scott Mlyn | CNBC Demand for single-family rental homes is soaring, pushing prices to record highs, as Americans begin to emerge from two years of pandemic hardship and return to big cities. Single-family rents gained a record 12.6% year over year in January, according to a

Another surge in energy prices pushed wholesale goods prices to their biggest one-month jump in record in February, according to Labor Department data released Tuesday. Final demand prices for goods jumped 2.4% for the month, the largest move ever in data going back to December 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. That pushed the

Forecasters have raised their outlooks for a recession and boosted their inflation projection as the Federal Reserve faces the quandary of fast-rising prices and greater uncertainty from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the latest CNBC Fed Survey. The probability of a recession in the U.S. was raised to 33% in the next 12 months,

A trader on the NYSE, March 11, 2022. Source: NYSE Investors may take the Federal Reserve’s first post-pandemic interest rate hike in stride, while uncertainty over the Ukraine crisis continues to hang over markets. The Fed has clearly broadcast that it intends to raise its target fed funds rate by a quarter percentage point from

In a first pass at gauging the economic impact from the Ukraine invasion, forecasters say the U.S. will grow more slowly with higher inflation, Europe’s economy will flirt near recession and Russia will plunge into a deep, double-digit decline. The CNBC Rapid Update, the average of 14 forecasts for the U.S. economy, sees GDP rising

A single family home is shown for sale in Encinitas, California. Mike Blake | Reuters After rising steadily for months, mortgage rates made a U-turn last week, and borrowers jumped to take advantage. The crisis in Ukraine rattled financial markets and caused a run on the relatively safer bond market. Yields fell and mortgage rates

Members of the Federal Reserve are debating how quickly to reduce the central bank’s portfolio of bonds, without starting a recession. Heading into the second quarter of 2022, the balance of Federal Reserve’s assets is almost $9 trillion. The majority of these assets are securitized holdings of government debt and mortgages. Most were purchased to

Inflation grew worse in February amid the escalating crisis in Ukraine and price pressures that became more entrenched. The consumer price index, which measures a wide-ranging basket of goods and services, increased 7.9% over the past 12 months, a fresh 40-year high for the closely followed gauge, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor