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President Joe Biden is paying a steep price for high inflation — a problem that festered during his first year in office instead of fading away as he suggested it would.
His $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, enacted in March, drove what will probably be the fastest economic growth since 1984 and pulled the unemployment rate down to 3.9% at a quicker pace than experts predicted.
Retail sales took an unexpected dip in December in what could be a signal that persistently rising inflation is prompting a pullback in consumer spending.
Consumers paid more for everything from groceries to cars in 2021 as companies passed along the costs of pricier raw materials and supply chain delays.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s central bank kept a key interest rate unchanged on Thursday, halting a string of rate cuts that triggered a currency crisis and sent consumer prices skyrocketing.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s exports and imports both reached record highs in December, largely because of surging oil prices and a weaker yen, the government said Thursday.
Japan’s imports last month surged 41% from the same month a year earlier.
LONDON (AP) — Consumer prices in the United Kingdom have risen at the fastest pace in almost 30 years as higher costs for energy, transportation, food and furniture squeezed household incomes.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s government and central bank have taken unconventional steps in recent weeks to prop up a beleaguered economy crippled by skyrocketing consumer prices, instead of ending a much-criticized plan to cut interest rates.
TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares fell in cautious trading on Wednesday after stocks on Wall Street sank to a new low for the year.
Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul and Sydney were lower while Hong Kong edged higher.
BRUSSELS (AP) — Euro finance chiefs on Monday ventured into a high-wire political balancing act prompted by conflicting economic forces: a weaker growth outlook and stronger inflation.
Finance ministers from the 19 nations that share the euro currency pledged continued budgetary stimulus for the European economy amid headwinds caused by the highly transmissible omicron variant.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The U.S. housing market had another scorcher of a year in 2021, aided by low mortgage rates, a swell of demand that outstripped supply and a rebounding job market.
The supply-demand equation remains sharply lopsided heading into the spring home-buying season, which should give sellers the upper hand again.
WASHINGTON (AP) — By some counts, President Joe Biden can lay claim to a banner first year in office. But numbers also reveal plenty of setbacks.
Most in the United States got their COVID-19 vaccines, but other countries fared better.
NEW YORK (AP) — In just two weeks, the cost of pecans for the pies at Peggy Jean’s Pies in Columbia, Missouri, has surged nearly 40%, perplexing co-owner Rebecca Miller and adding to the cost of doing business.
BERLIN (AP) — A senior European Central Bank official says that raising interest rates prematurely could “choke off the recovery,” comments that come as inflation in the 19-nation euro area has hit a record rate.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday announced the nominations of three people for the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, including Sarah Bloom Raskin, a former Fed and Treasury official, for the top regulatory slot and Lisa Cook, who would be the first Black woman to serve on the Fed's board.
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans overlooked shortages, spiking prices and uncertainty over the omicron variant to break spending records during the critical holiday shopping season. But figures released Friday show that after spending robustly early in the holiday season, consumers sharply slowed their purchases from November to December.
WASHINGTON (AP) — He was supposed to break through the congressional logjam. End the pandemic. Get the economy back on track.
Days before he hits his one-year mark in office, a torrent of bad news is gnawing at the foundational rationale of President Joe Biden’s presidency: that he could get the job done.
SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates jumped again this past week, reaching their highest level since March 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic was breaking in the U.S.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Prices at the wholesale level surged by a record 9.7% for all of 2021, setting an annual record and providing further evidence that inflation is still present at all levels of the U.S.
BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly lower in Asia on Thursday after the latest report of surging prices in the U.S. appeared to keep the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates in coming months.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation jumped at its fastest pace in nearly 40 years last month, a 7% spike from a year earlier that is increasing household expenses, eating into wage gains and heaping pressure on President Joe Biden and the Federal Reserve to address what has become the biggest threat to the U.S.
WASHINGTON (AP) — At first, it didn’t even register as a threat. Then it seemed like a temporary annoyance.
Now, inflation is flashing red for the Federal Reserve's policymakers — and delivering sticker shock to Americans at the used car lot, the supermarket, the gas station, the rental office.
BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher on Wednesday after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said monetary policy would return to normal and interest rates might be raised earlier than planned.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Warning that high inflation could make it harder to restore the job market to full health, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the Fed will raise interest rates faster than it now plans if needed to stem surging prices.
WASHINGTON (AP) — High inflation is taking a toll on American families, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged in remarks to be delivered at a Tuesday congressional hearing, where he is sure to face tough questions on the subject.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With inflation surging, unemployment falling and wages rising, some economists are warning that the Federal Reserve may have waited too long to reverse its ultra-low-rate policies — a delay that could put the economy at heightened risk.
LONDON (AP) — Inflation in the 19 countries that use the euro currency hit its highest level on record, led by surging food and energy costs, figures released Friday show.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The fierce competition, low mortgage rates and soaring prices that helped raise mortgage borrowing to record heights last year is expected to drive lending even higher this year, experts say.
BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street lower on Thursday after investors saw minutes from a Federal Reserve meeting as a sign the U.S. central bank might hike interest rates faster to cool inflation.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — OPEC and allied oil-producing countries decided Tuesday to pump more oil to the world economy amid hope that travel and demand for fuel will hold up despite the rapid spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden met virtually with independent farmers and ranchers Monday to discuss initiatives to reduce food prices by increasing competition within the meat industry, part of a broader effort to show his administration is trying to combat inflation.
DETROIT (AP) — A couple of months ago, a woman paid a visit to Jeff Schrier's used car lot in Omaha, Nebraska. She was on a tight budget, she said, and was desperate for a vehicle to commute to work.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s yearly inflation climbed by the fastest pace in 19 years, jumping to 36.08% in December, official data showed on Monday.
The Turkish Statistical Institute said the consumer price index increased by 13.58% in December from the previous month, further eroding peoples' purchasing power.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices surged again in October as the housing market continues to boom in the wake of last year's coronavirus recession.
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index, out Tuesday, climbed 18.4% in October from a year earlier.
EDIRNE, Turkey (AP) — Bulgarian shoppers are crossing Turkey’s western border in packed cars and buses, taking advantage of a declining Turkish lira to fuel their own shopping sprees.
Their first stop is the currency exchange and then it's off to the markets and grocery stores in the northwestern Turkish city of Edirne.