The Federal Reserve Bank

hamzaturkkol/iStock/Getty Images Plus Fitch Ratings, one of the three major credit rating services that ranks government debt, was brutal in its assessment on Tuesday of the United States government that caused it to reduce its rating from “prime” to “high medium grade.” It explained: The rating downgrade of the United States reflects the expected fiscal deterioration over the next three...

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that taking race into consideration in the college admissions process is unconstitutional, breaking with 45 years of legal precedent. Inevitably, there are concerns about whether diversity will suffer and deepen social division. Affirmative action, which involved taking proactive, corrective measures to support the social advancement of racial minorities such as Black, Latino (from Central...

Devonyu/iStock/Getty Images Plus It has become so obvious that even the less astute among us have noted leftists’ reflexive habit of projection: They tend to accuse others of what they themselves are guilty of. They’d say Covid realists were “science deniers” even as they insisted a boy could will himself into being a girl. They’d say the Right is violent...

U.S. mortgage rates dropped from an eight-month high, after nearing 7 percent last week, as inflation slows ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve policy meeting. The Fed’s aggressive interest-rate hike policy sent mortgage rates well above 7 percent last year, causing the once booming housing market to crash. Rates have been slow to decline from the nearly two-decade high, forcing many potential buyers out...

The number of housing starts tumbled last month, despite signs that the home sales market is heating up again after falling. Housing starts take into account the change in the number of new residential buildings beginning construction. New single-family home construction fell 8 percent from May to June, according to July 19 report from the U.S. Census Bureau. Starts are now at...

The New York Federal Reserve Bank said more Americans had their credit applications rejected last month at levels not seen in years. The New York Fed reported on July 16 added that fewer people across the country also sought to borrow. The report was part of the bank’s monthly Survey of Consumer Expectations, which is taken every four months to assess credit access...

Artificial intelligence could come with both advantages and risks in the financial system, cautions the Federal Reserve’s chief banking regulator. Michael S. Barr, the Fed Vice Chair for Supervision, told the National Fair Housing Alliance 2023 National Conference on July 18 that underserved communities could have greater access to housing because AI technology, such as machine learning, might ensure affordable...

LONDON—The dollar drifted near a 15-month low against its major peers on Tuesday, as investors awaited fresh catalysts to gauge for downside in the wake of last week’s cooler-than-expected U.S. inflation. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies, fell as low as 99.587, languishing near Friday’s trough of 99.574, its lowest since April...

Another senior U.S. official is coming to China. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is visiting from July 6 to July 9. The New York Times, Associated Press, the U.K.’s Guardian, Reuters and many other media outlets all promptly followed up on this. The close attention of the foreign media showed that the world is looking forward to an improvement in...

American small-business confidence slightly climbed to a seven-month high last month, but concerns about inflation remain persistent, according to a recent report. Pessimism over the U.S. economy diminished sharply, while sales expectations improved, but a persistently tight labor market is continuing to concern analysts about future inflation rates. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Small Business Optimism Index, which...

Home prices hit a record high again in May, amid a worsening supply shortage in the housing market. The sharp jump in mortgage interest rates in last year caused an overheated housing market to slow down, but the slump did not last long. The cost for a home, which has been rising since the start of the year, rose 0.7...

LONDON—Global stocks traded around their highs for the year on Thursday as investors bet that the Federal Reserve was finally taming inflation and could end its rate hiking cycle as soon as this month. U.S. data on Wednesday showed consumer prices rose modestly in June, registering the smallest annual increase in more than two years as the economy shifted into...

The positive impact of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s “icebreaker trip” in June is now emerging: Another heavyweight member of President Joe Biden’s cabinet, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, will be on Chinese soil this week.* The first female chair of the Federal Reserve and the first female treasury secretary in U.S. history has the important task of further easing...

The major U.S. banks are set to report the biggest jump in loan losses since the COVID-19 pandemic, as rising interest rates put mounting pressure on borrowers across the country. America’s top lenders are expected to release their second quarterly earnings reports this week, with JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and BlackRock releasing theirs on July 14. Bank of America and...

Commentary “You will own nothing, and you will be happy.” This confronting statement emanates from the World Economic Forum (WEF), a non-governmental organisation established in 1971 by Klaus Schwab. By all appearances, the WEF is the most powerful organisation in the world. For decades, it has been at the centre of bringing together the world’s richest and most powerful in...

NEW YORK—Stocks ticked higher on Wall Street Monday ahead of a week with updates on where inflation and corporate profits are heading. The S&P 500 rose 10.58, or 0.2 percent, to 4,409.53, coming off just its second losing week in the last eight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 209.52, or 0.6 percent, to 33,944.40, and the Nasdaq composite added...

Interest rates are likely to be raised a “couple” of more times this year as inflation is still far too high, says the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Despite price pressures slowing, San Francisco Fed Bank President Mary Daly believes the institution needs to continue raising interest rates, a policy decision that requires a balancing act...

SINGAPORE/LONDON—The dollar regained ground on Monday, partly recovering from a knee-jerk reaction to Friday data showing U.S. job gains were the smallest in two-and-a-half years, while disappointing inflation figures in China weighed on the yuan and proxies. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of major peers, was up 0.15 percent at 102.44 having tumbled 0.87 percent...

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that a U.S. recession is still “not completely off the table” in the near future, but she claimed the country is on the right path in bringing down decades-high inflation. “It’s not completely off the table,” Ms. Yellen told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday about a possible recession after the Department of Labor’s...

U.S. home mortgage rates soared towards 7 percent this week, pushing away many potential home buyers as affordability pressures for some pushed home ownership further out of reach. The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage hit 7.22 percent on July 6, reaching its highest point since November, according data published by to Mortgage News Daily. Freddie Mac’s report showed...