WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. consumer sentiment inched up in April, but households expected inflation to rise over the next 12 months. The University of Michigan’s preliminary April reading on the overall index of consumer sentiment came in at 63.5, up from 62.0 in the prior month. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a preliminary reading…
(Corrects month in second paragraph to February from January) WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Production at U.S. factories fell more than expected in March, but eked out a modest gain in the first quarter. Manufacturing output dropped 0.5% last month, the Federal Reserve said on Friday. Data for February was revised higher to show production at factories…
(Reuters) – A U.S. recession is certainly feasible as the Federal Reserve’s steep rate-hikes over the past year filters fully through the economy, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said on Friday, as he again urged the central bank to be prudent on policy. “There is no way you can look at current conditions around the…
(Reuters) – Traders of futures tied to the Federal Reserve’s policy rate on Friday kept bets the U.S. central bank will increase its benchmark rate in May by another quarter-of-a-percentage point, even after a report showed overall retail sales dropped more than expected last month. U.S. short-term interest rate futures reflect the view that a…
PARIS (Reuters) – The Paris Club of creditor governments aims to start negotiations to restructure Sri Lanka’s debt, the group said on Friday after a creditor committee was set up this week. The Paris Club said the Japanese and Indian finance ministers along with its president and representatives of Sri Lanka set up a creditor…
By Leika Kihara WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Bank of Japan Assistant Governor Tokiko Shimizu said on Friday there had been “extremely high” uncertainty regarding Japan’s economy, as slowing global growth and recent financial market stress cloud its outlook. “The BOJ deems it necessary to conduct monetary easing and support the economy, and provide a favourable environment for…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. import prices fell more than expected in March, leading to the biggest year-on-year decline since mid-2020, further evidence that inflation pressures were subsiding. Import prices dropped 0.6% last month after slipping 0.2% in February, the Labor Department said on Friday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast import prices, which exclude tariffs,…
By Valentine Hilaire MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican investment firm JLL Capital, whose Honduran operation has been blocked since 2018 in a local dispute, is seeking some $380 million from the Central American country in arbitration proceedings, claiming that it violated foreign investment protections, documents reviewed by Reuters show. The case was triggered in January…
By Balazs Koranyi WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A growing number of European Central Bank policymakers are calling for the bank to stop reinvesting cash into its largest bond buying scheme, to help trim its balance sheet as part of efforts to tackle inflation, sources with direct knowledge said. The ECB is still sitting on 3.2 trillion…
By Howard Schneider (Reuters) – Despite a year of aggressive rate increases U.S. central bankers “haven’t made much progress” in returning inflation to their 2% target and need to move interest rates higher still, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said on Friday. Important measures of underlying inflation have “basically moved sideways with no apparent downward…
