For L.G.B.T.Q. People, Moving to Friendlier States Comes With a Cost
Laws targeting gender-affirming care have uprooted thousands. But places that are more supportive can also be more expensive.
Once a G.O.P. Rallying Cry, Debt and Deficits Fall From the Party’s Platform
Fiscal hawks are lamenting the transformation of the party that claimed to prize fiscal restraint and are warning of dire economic consequences.
Reliability of U.S. Economic Data Is in Jeopardy, Study Finds
A report says new approaches and increased spending are needed to ensure that government statistics remain dependable and free of political influence.
Biden Announces Tariffs on Chinese Metals Routed Through Mexico
The measure aims to close a loophole that officials said allowed metals made partly in China to come into the United States duty free.
U.A.W. Monitor Reveals Details About Investigation Into Union Leader
A court-appointed monitor said he was looking into allegations that a union official was punished for resisting actions that would have benefited the union president’s partner and her sister.
Fed Chair Powell Welcomes Cooling Inflation
Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, indicated on Tuesday that recent inflation data had given the central bank more confidence that price increases were returning to normal, and that continued progress along these lines would help to pave the way toward a central bank rate cut. “The Committee has stated that we…
New Plan to Target Russia’s Oil Revenue Brings Debate in White House
Officials in President Biden’s Treasury Department have proposed new actions aimed at crippling a fleet of aging oil tankers that are helping deliver Russian oil to buyers around the world in defiance of Western sanctions. Their effort is aimed at punishing Russia but it has stalled amid White House concerns over how it would affect…
Fed Officials Keep an Eye Out for Cracks in the Job Market
The labor market has maintained surprising vigor over the past year, but as fewer jobs go unfilled and a growing number of people linger on unemployment insurance rosters, Federal Reserve officials have begun to watch for cracks. Central bankers have recently begun to clearly say that if the labor market softens unexpectedly, they could cut…
Investors Bet on Rate Cuts as Recent Data Suggests Slowdown
Investors are poised for a report on Friday to show a slowdown in the pace of hiring in June, building on weak services and manufacturing data, and to firm up their expectations of interest rate cuts starting as soon as September. Signs of lower rates in the near future, which would make it cheaper for…
U.S. Job Growth Extends Streak, but Signs of Concern Emerge
Halfway through the year, and four years removed from the downturn set off by the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. job engine is still cruising — even if it shows increased signs of downshifting. Employers delivered another solid month of hiring in June, the Labor Department reported on Friday, adding 206,000 jobs in the 42nd consecutive…
One Obstacle for Trump’s Promises: This Isn’t the 2016 Economy
When Donald J. Trump became president in 2017, prices had risen roughly 5 percent over the previous four years. If he were to win the race for the White House in 2024, he would be entering office at a time when they are up 20 percent and counting. That is a critically different economic backdrop…
Apartments Could Be the Next Real Estate Business to Struggle
It might seem like a great time to own apartment buildings. For many landlords, it is. Rents have soared in recent years because of housing shortages across much of the country and a bout of severe inflation. But a growing number of rental properties, especially in the South and the Southwest, are in financial distress.…
America’s Divided Summer Economy Is Coming to an Airport or Hotel Near You
The travel industry is in the midst of another hot summer as Americans hit the road and make for the airport to take advantage of slightly cheaper flights and gas. But the 2024 vacation outlook isn’t all sunny: Like the rest of the American consumer experience this year, it is sharply divided. Many richer consumers…
Tesla Sales Down, GM and Toyota Up Slightly in 2nd Quarter
Much of the auto industry, with the notable exception of Tesla, reported modest sales growth in the three months through June as high interest rates, high vehicle prices and uncertainty about the economy weighed on consumers. Sales in late June were also slowed by disruptions at car dealers stemming from a cyberattack on a company…
Along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a Struggle to Make a Living
In the preceding five years, she amassed around 100 citations, she said, and has paid several hundred dollars that she hopes will be refunded as part of the pending lawsuit. Last year, Mrs. Soto’s husband began getting weekly kidney dialysis, and Mrs. Soto took a bit of time off in March to recuperate from a…
The Fed’s Preferred Inflation Measure Cools, Welcome News
The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure continued to cool as consumer spending grew only moderately, good news for central bankers who have been trying to weigh down demand and wrestle price increases under control. The Personal Consumption Expenditures index climbed 2.6 percent in May from a year earlier, matching what economists had forecast and down…
Trump Eyes Bigger Trade War in Second Term
In March 2018, a day after announcing sweeping tariffs on metals imported from America’s allies and adversaries alike, President Donald J. Trump took to social media to share one of his central economic philosophies: “Trade wars are good, and easy to win.” As president, Mr. Trump presided over the biggest increase in U.S. tariffs since…
Many CEOs Still Support Biden Over Trump
When the White House chief of staff, Jeffrey Zients, met with dozens of top executives in Washington this month, he encountered a familiar list of corporate complaints about President Biden. The executives at the Business Roundtable, a group representing some of the country’s biggest corporations, objected to Mr. Biden’s proposals to raise taxes. They questioned…
Fact-Checking Biden’s and Trump’s Claims About the Economy
Consumer sentiment about the state of the economy could be pivotal in shaping the 2024 presidential election. President Biden is still grappling with how to address one of his biggest weaknesses: inflation, which has recently cooled but soared in his first years in office. Former President Donald J. Trump’s frequent economic boasts are undermined by…
Can A.I. Answer the Needs of Smaller Businesses? Some Push to Find Out.
The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce has convened an annual meeting of local business leaders since the 1800s, but the most recent gathering had a decidedly modern theme: artificial intelligence. The goal was to demystify the technology for the chamber’s roughly 2,000 members, especially its small businesses. “My sense is not that people are wary,”…
The Weird Housing Market, in 5 Charts
Home prices have held up better than expected amid high interest rates. But that doesn’t mean the housing market is healthy. When the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in 2022, most economists thought the housing market would be the first to suffer the consequences: Higher borrowing costs would make it more expensive to buy…
New Home Construction Slows as Mortgage Rates Remain High
Construction of new homes in the United States dropped below expectations in May as builders pull back on new residential projects largely in response to high interest rates, reinforcing concerns about stubbornly high housing prices. Government data released on Thursday showed that new-home construction, or housing starts, fell 5.5 percent last month to an annualized…
Democrats’ Dream of a Wealth Tax Is Alive. For Now.
For years, liberal Democrats have agitated for the United States to tax wealth, not just income, as a way to ensure that rich Americans who derive wealth from real estate, stocks, bonds and other assets were paying more in taxes. On Thursday, that dream survived a Supreme Court scare, but just barely. Thanks to a…
Dilemma on Wall Street: Short-Term Gain or Climate Benefit?
A team of economists recently analyzed 20 years of peer-reviewed research on the social cost of carbon, an estimate of the damage from climate change. They concluded that the average cost, adjusted for improved methods, is substantially higher than even the U.S. government’s most up-to-date figure. That means greenhouse gas emissions, over time, will take…
Biden’s Stimulus Juiced the Economy, but Its Political Effects Are Muddled
The $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package that President Biden signed shortly after taking office has become both an anchor and a buoy for his re-election campaign. The American Rescue Plan, which the Biden administration created and Democrats passed in March 2021, has fueled discontent among voters, in sometimes paradoxical ways. Some Americans blame the law,…
U.S. Debt on Pace to Top $56 Trillion Over Next 10 Years
The United States is on a pace to add trillions of dollars to its national debt over the next decade, borrowing money more quickly than previously expected, at a time when big legislative fights loom over taxes and spending. The Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday that the U.S. national debt is poised to top…
Amazon Is Fined Nearly $6 Million Over Warehouse Work Quotas
A California labor regulator said on Tuesday that it had fined Amazon nearly $6 million for thousands of violations of a safety law that took effect in 2022. The measure, known as the Warehouse Quotas Law, lets employees request written explanations of any productivity quotas that apply to them, as well as explanations of any…
Amazon Union Workers Join Forces With the Teamsters
After years of organizing Amazon workers and pressuring the company to bargain over wages and working conditions, two prominent unions are teaming up to challenge the online retailer. The partnership was made final in voting that ended on Monday after members of the Amazon Labor Union, the only union formally representing Amazon warehouse workers in…
Fed Is in No Rush to Cut Rates as Economy Holds Up
Federal Reserve officials are expected to leave interest rates unchanged at their meeting this week. They will also release a fresh set of economic projections.
The Fed Holds Rates Steady and Predicts Just One Reduction This Year
Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged at their June meeting on Wednesday and predicted that they will cut borrowing costs just once before the end of 2024, taking a cautious approach as they try to avoid declaring a premature victory over inflation. While the Fed had been expected to leave rates unchanged, its projections…
Supreme Court Backs Starbucks Over ‘Memphis 7’ Union Case
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Starbucks on Thursday in a challenge against a labor ruling by a federal judge, making it more difficult for a key federal agency to intervene when a company is accused of illegally suppressing labor organizing. Eight justices backed the majority opinion, which was written by Justice Clarence Thomas.…
Montana Has More Cows Than People. Why Are Locals Eating Beef From Brazil?
“Making It Work” is a series is about small-business owners striving to endure hard times. While many people can conjure up romantic visions of a Montana ranch — vast valleys, cold streams, snow-capped mountains — few understand what happens when the cattle leave those pastures. Most of them, it turns out, don’t stay in Montana.…
What to Watch as the Fed Meets
Federal Reserve officials are expected to leave interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, but investors and economists will be carefully watching for any hints about when policymakers could begin cutting borrowing costs. Central bankers have held rates at 5.3 percent since July after a rapid series of increases starting in early 2022. Policymakers came into 2024…
World Bank Sees Rosier Growth Outlook
The World Bank on Tuesday raised its outlook for the world economy this year but warned that the rise of new trade barriers and protectionist policies posed a long-term threat to global growth. In its latest Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank projected global growth to hold steady at 2.6 percent this year, an…
U.S. Bans Imports From 3 Chinese Companies Over Ties to Forced Labor
The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday added three Chinese companies to a list of firms whose products can no longer be exported to the United States, as part of what it described as an escalating crackdown on companies that aid in forced labor programs in Xinjiang. The companies include a seafood processor, Shandong Meijia…
U.A.W. Reaches Accord on Pay and Safety at E.V. Battery Plant
The United Automobile Workers union on Monday announced a tentative contract agreement at an Ohio factory making batteries for electric vehicles, a step that it called a milestone in enhancing pay and safety in the E.V. supply chain. The accord covers 1,600 workers at a Lordstown plant operated by Ultium Cells, a joint venture between…
Wage Growth Exceeds Forecasts, Potentially Deterring Fed Rate Cuts
As officials at the Federal Reserve weigh whether and when to cut interest rates this year, they have been hoping to see evidence that the labor market is gradually cooling but with unemployment remaining low. The jobs report released Friday carried bad news on all fronts. Hiring and wage growth both accelerated in May, according…
What to Make of the Jobs Report’s Mixed Signals
Sometimes, the many numbers included in the government’s monthly jobs report come together to paint a clear, coherent picture of the strength or weakness of the U.S. labor market. This is not one of those times. Instead, the data released by the Labor Department on Friday was a mess of conflicting signals. It couldn’t even…
Jobs Report Will Be Latest Test of U.S. Economy’s Resilience
It appears to be smooth sailing for the labor market as summer approaches, even if that horizon line isn’t very far out. Economists polled by Bloomberg expect the government’s monthly jobs report on Friday to show that employers added 190,000 workers in May. That would be a moderate step down from the 242,000-job average of…
U.S. Adds Tariffs to Shield Struggling Solar Industry
Tariffs aimed at protecting America’s solar industry from foreign competition snapped back into place on Thursday, ending a two-year pause that President Biden approved as part of his effort to jump-start solar adoption in the U.S. The tariffs, which will apply to certain solar products made by Chinese companies in Southeast Asia, kicked in at…
Europe Has Fallen Behind the U.S. and China. Can It Catch Up?
Europe’s share of the global economy is shrinking, and fears are deepening that the continent can no longer keep up with the United States and China. “We are too small,” said Enrico Letta, a former Italian prime minister who recently delivered a report on the future of the single market to the European Union. “We…
Car Deals Vanished During the Pandemic. They’re Coming Back.
For much of the last four years, automakers and their dealers had so few cars to sell — and demand was so strong — that they could command high prices. Those days are over, and hefty discounts are starting a comeback. During the coronavirus pandemic, auto production was slowed first by factory closings and then…
The Floating Traffic Jam That Freaked Us All Out
Southern California appeared to be under siege from a blockade. More than 50 enormous vessels bobbed in the frigid waters of the Pacific Ocean, marooned off the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif. As days stretched into weeks, they waited their turn to pull up to the docks and disgorge their cargo.…
GDP Gain in First Quarter Revised Downward in U.S.
Economic growth slowed more sharply early this year than initially estimated, as consumers eased up on spending amid rising prices and high interest rates. U.S. gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, grew at a 1.3 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. That was down…
Will Billions More in New Aid Save Family Farms?
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has a line about the state of small-scale agriculture in America these days. It’s drawn from the National Agricultural Statistics Service, which shows that as the average size of farms has risen, the nation had lost 544,000 of them since 1981. “That’s every farm today that exists in North Dakota and…
Alzheimer’s Takes a Financial Toll Long Before Diagnosis, Study Finds
Long before people develop dementia, they often begin falling behind on mortgage payments, credit card bills and other financial obligations, new research shows. A team of economists and medical experts at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Georgetown University combined Medicare records with data from Equifax, the credit bureau, to study how people’s…
U.S. Accuses Hyundai and Two Other Companies of Using Child Labor
The Labor Department on Thursday sued Hyundai over the use of child labor in Alabama, holding the car manufacturer liable for the employment of children in its supply chain, including a 13-year-old girl who worked up to 60 hours per week making car parts. In the suit, filed in a federal court in Montgomery, Ala.,…
Why Are People So Down About the Economy? Theories Abound.
The U.S. economy has been an enigma over the past few years. The job market is booming, and consumers are still spending, which is usually a sign of optimism. But if you ask Americans, many will tell you that they feel bad about the economy and are unhappy about President Biden’s economic record. Call it…
Home Insurance Is Clobbering Consumers. Yet It’s Barely Counted as Inflation.
Holly Meyer Lucas estimates that as many as 30 of the 100 houses her real estate team sold in and around Jupiter, Fla., last year were put on the market because their owners could no longer keep up with skyrocketing home insurance. “It is the housing crisis that nobody is talking about,” Ms. Meyer Lucas…
If A.I. Can Do Your Job, Maybe It Can Also Replace Your C.E.O.
As artificial intelligence programs shake up the office, potentially making millions of jobs obsolete, one group of perpetually stressed workers seems especially vulnerable. These employees analyze new markets and discern trends, both tasks a computer could do more efficiently. They spend much of their time communicating with colleagues, a laborious activity that is being automated…
Teamsters Struggle to Unionize Amazon and FedEx Delivery Workers
Last year, two unions representing workers at three large automakers and UPS negotiated new labor contracts that included big raises and other gains. Leaders of the unions — the United Automobile Workers and the Teamsters — hoped the wins would help them organize workers across their industry. The U.A.W. won one vote to unionize a…
How China Pulled So Far Ahead on Industrial Policy
For more than half a century, concerns about oil shortages or a damaged climate have spurred governments to invest in alternative energy sources. In the 1970s, President Jimmy Carter placed solar panels on the roof of the White House as a symbol of his commitment to developing energy from the sun. In the 1990s, Japan…
Big Sky, Big Growth: How Montana’s Newcomers Are Shaping Its Senate Duel
Growing up in Bozeman, Mont., Dylan Heintz loved the picturesque views of the snow-capped mountains and the small-town charm. Things were cheap: His dad bought the family home for about $80,000. These days, Bozeman feels less quaint. A steady stream of out-of-state transplants to Big Sky Country became a deluge during the pandemic, leading to…
The NCAA Agreed to Pay Players. It Won’t Call Them Employees.
The immediate takeaway from the landmark $2.8 billion settlement that the N.C.A.A. and the major athletic conferences accepted on Thursday was that it cut straight at the heart of the organization’s cherished model of amateurism: Schools can now pay their athletes directly. But another bedrock principle remains intact, and maintaining it is likely to be…
G7 Finance Ministers Aim to Use Russia’s Frozen Assets to Help Ukraine
Top finance officials from the world’s advanced economies moved toward an agreement on Saturday over how to use Russia’s frozen central bank assets to aid Ukraine and warned against China’s dumping of cheap exports into their markets, aiming to marshal their economic might to tackle twin crises. The embrace of more ambitious sanctions and protectionism…
What Trump 2.0 Could Mean for the Federal Reserve
Former President Donald J. Trump relentlessly criticized the Federal Reserve and Jerome H. Powell, its chair, during his time in office. As he competes with President Biden for a second presidential term, that history has many on Wall Street wondering: What would a Trump victory mean for America’s central bank? The Trump campaign does not…
Fed Minutes Show Officials Were Wary About Inflation at May Meeting
Federal Reserve officials were wary about the recent lack of progress on inflation and remained willing to lift interest rates if conditions made it necessary as of their two-day meeting that ended on May 1. Minutes from the gathering, released Wednesday, showed that “many” officials expressed uncertainty about how much today’s interest-rate setting — 5.3…
Rent Is Harder to Handle and Inflation Is a Burden, a Fed Financial Survey Finds
American households struggled to cover some day-to-day expenses in 2023, including rent, and many remained glum about inflation even as price increases slowed. That’s one of several takeaways from a new Federal Reserve report on the financial well-being of American households. The report suggested that American households remained in similar financial shape to 2022 —…
U.S. and Europe Move Closer to Using Russian Assets to Help Ukraine
The United States and Europe are coalescing around a plan to use interest earned on frozen Russian central bank assets to provide Ukraine with a loan to be used for military and economic assistance, potentially providing the country with a multibillion-dollar lifeline as Russia’s war effort intensifies. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said in an…
Senate Inquiry Finds BMW Imported Cars Tied to Forced Labor in China
A congressional investigation found that BMW, Jaguar Land Rover and Volkswagen purchased parts that originated from a Chinese supplier flagged by the United States for participating in forced labor programs in Xinjiang, a far western region of China where the local population is subject to mass surveillance and detentions. Both BMW and Jaguar Land Rover…
Europe Wants to Build a Stronger Defense Industry, but Can’t Decide How
France and Germany’s recent agreement to develop a new multibillion-dollar battlefield tank together was immediately hailed by the German defense minister, Boris Pistorius, as a “breakthrough” achievement. “It is a historic moment,” he said. His gushing was understandable. For seven years, political infighting, industrial rivalry and neglect had pooled like molasses around the project to…
A Loss at Mercedes-Benz Slows U.A.W.’s Southern Campaign
After suffering a setback at two Mercedes-Benz plants in Alabama on Friday, the United Automobile Workers union’s efforts to organize other auto factories in the South is likely to slow and could struggle to make headway. About 56 percent of the Mercedes workers who voted rejected the U.A.W. in an election after the union chalked…
Walmart Earnings Boosted by ‘Upper-Income’ Shoppers
The Numbers: Sales growth in stores and especially online. Walmart said its comparable-store sales in the United States rose 3.8 percent from the quarter a year earlier. Its U.S. e-commerce business jumped 22 percent. Walmart has performed better than retailers dependent on apparel sales, in part because it also sells essential goods like groceries. Consumers,…
What Forecasters Say About Interest Rates (and Why They Disagree)
How soon is soon? Or exactly how much later is later? As the year started, there was a widespread view among economists and on Wall Street that the Federal Reserve would lower interest rates in the first half of the year. Maybe in March, maybe in May, but sooner rather than later. That long-awaited moment,…
Inside the Rent Inflation Measure That Economics Nerds Love to Hate
There’s a three-letter abbreviation that economists have started pronouncing with the energy of a four-letter word: “O.E.R.” It stands for owner’s equivalent rent, and it has been used to measure American housing inflation since the 1980s. As its name suggests, it uses a combination of surveys and market data to estimate how much it would…
Few Chinese Electric Cars Are Sold in U.S., but Industry Fears a Flood
The Biden administration’s new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles won’t have a huge immediate impact on American consumers or the car market because very few such cars are sold in the United States. But the decision reflects deep concern within the American automotive industry, which has grown increasingly worried about China’s ability to churn out…
Fed Chair’s Confidence in Slowing Inflation Is ‘Not as High’ as Before
Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, reiterated that policymakers were poised to hold interest rates steady at a high level as they waited for evidence that inflation is slowing further. Fed officials entered 2024 expecting to make interest rate cuts, having lifted borrowing costs sharply to a more than two-decade high of 5.3 percent…
U.S. Awards $120 Million to Polar Semiconductor to Expand Chip Facility
Federal officials will provide up to $120 million in grants to Polar Semiconductor to help the company expand its chip manufacturing facility in Minnesota, the Biden administration announced on Monday, the latest in a string of awards meant to strengthen the U.S. supply of semiconductors. Commerce Department officials said the grant would help Polar upgrade…
U.S. to Announce New Tariffs on Chinese Electric Vehicles
The Biden administration is set to announce new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and other goods as early as next week, according to people familiar with the matter, as President Biden looks for ways to protect America’s nascent clean energy sector from a surge of cheap Chinese imports. The move comes amid growing concern within…
Why Higher Fed Rates Are Not Totally Off the Table
Investors do not expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates again, and officials have made it clear that they see further increases as unlikely. But one important takeaway from recent Fed commentary is that unlikely and inconceivable are not the same thing. After the central bank held rates steady at 5.3 percent last week,…
How 401(k) Drives Inequality – The New York Times
This past January, another bipartisan collaboration — between Alicia Munnell, who was an economist in the Clinton administration and who now serves as the director of Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research, and Andrew Biggs, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank — published a paper calling for a reduction…
Biden to Announce AI Center in Wisconsin as Part of Economic Agenda
President Biden will travel to Wisconsin on Wednesday to announce the creation of an artificial intelligence data center, highlighting one of his administration’s biggest economic accomplishments in a crucial battleground state — and pointing up a significant failure by his immediate predecessor and 2024 challenger. At a technical college in Racine, Mr. Biden will announce…
Job Openings and Hiring Are at a 3-Year Ebb
The red-hot labor market cooled somewhat in March, government data showed on Wednesday. Employers had 8.5 million unfilled job openings on the last day of March, the fewest since early 2021, according to data released by the Labor Department. They also filled the fewest jobs in nearly four years, suggesting that employers’ seemingly insatiable demand…
Federal Money Is All Over Milwaukee. Biden Hopes Voters Will Notice.
Across Milwaukee, residents can see evidence of federal money from laws passed under the Biden administration, if they know where to look. It shows up in a growing array of solar panels near the airport. Ramshackle houses rehabilitated and sold to first-time buyers. The removal of lead paint and pipes. The demolition of a derelict…
The Fed Tries to Steer Clear of Politics, but an Election Year Is Making It Tough
Federal Reserve officials are fiercely protective of their separation from politics, but the presidential election is putting the institution on a crash course with partisan wrangling. Fed officials set policy independently of the White House, meaning that while presidents can push for lower interest rates, they cannot force central bankers to cut borrowing costs. Congress…
U.S. Employers Added 175,000 Jobs in April
The American job market may be shifting into a lower gear this spring, a turn that economists have expected for months after a vigorous rebound from the pandemic shock. Employers added 175,000 positions in April, the Labor Department reported Friday, undershooting forecasts. The unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9 percent. A less torrid expansion after…
Fed Holds Rates Steady, Noting Lack of Progress on Inflation
Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged and signaled that they were wary about how stubborn inflation was proving, paving the way for a longer period of high borrowing costs. The Fed held rates steady at 5.3 percent on Wednesday, leaving them at a more than two-decade high, where they have been set since July.…
North Carolina Triad Tries to Reinvent Its Economy
Scott Kidd didn’t expect a terribly busy job when he became the town manager of Liberty, N.C., a onetime furniture and textile hub whose rhythms more recently centered on a yearly antiques festival. Those quiet times, less than three years ago, soon became a whirlwind. Toyota announced it was building a battery factory on the…
He Won by a Landslide. Why Is He Fighting for His Political Life?
Ben Houchen, a regional mayor in the north of England, faces a close re-election race, partly thanks to the broader troubles of Britain’s Conservative Party.
What to Watch as the Fed Makes Its Interest Rate Decision
Federal Reserve officials will conclude their two-day policy meeting on Wednesday afternoon, and while central bankers are widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, there is an unusual degree of uncertainty about what exactly they will signal about the future. On the one hand, officials could stick with their recent script: Their next policy move…
Walmart Introduces a New Store Brand for ‘Quality Food’
When prices for grocery staples surged in 2021 and 2022, some Americans who had not regularly shopped at Walmart increasingly turned to the retailer, which is known for its affordable prices. Now, the company is trying to keep those new customers and attract others with a new selection of plant-based, gluten-free and deluxe culinary fare.…
High Fed Rates Are Not Crushing Growth. Wealthier People Help Explain Why.
More than two years after the Federal Reserve started lifting interest rates to restrain growth and weigh on inflation, businesses continue to hire, consumers continue to spend and policymakers are questioning why their increases haven’t had a more aggressive bite. The answer probably lies in part in a simple reality: High interest rates are not…
Antony Blinken Visits China – The New York Times
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken cheered on the sidelines at a basketball game in Shanghai on Wednesday night, and spent Thursday chatting with students at New York University’s Shanghai campus and meeting American business owners. It all went to emphasize the kind of economic, educational and cultural ties that the United States is pointedly…
Inflation Is Stubborn. Is the Federal Budget Deficit Making It Worse?
A crucial question is hanging over the American economy and the fall presidential election: Why are consumer prices still growing uncomfortably fast, even after a sustained campaign by the Federal Reserve to slow the economy by raising interest rates? Economists and policy experts have offered several explanations. Some are essentially quirks of the current economic…
Blinken’s Visit to China: What to Know
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken is meeting officials in China this week as disputes over wars, trade, technology and security are testing the two countries’ efforts to stabilize the relationship. The United States is heading into an election year in which President Biden will face intense pressure to confront China’s authoritarian government and offer…
How High Wall Street Thinks the Fed Will Keep Interest Rates
At the start of 2024, investors expected the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates substantially this year as inflation cooled. But price increases have been surprisingly stubborn, and that is forcing a rethink on Wall Street. Investors and economists are questioning when and how much Fed policymakers will manage to cut rates — and some…
U.S. Economy Grew at 1.6% Rate in First-Quarter Slowdown
The U.S. economy remained resilient early this year, with a strong job market fueling robust consumer spending. The trouble is that inflation was resilient, too. Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, increased at a 1.6 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. That was down…
N.F.L. Draft Is Like Super Bowl for City of Detroit
When the N.F.L. took its college draft on the road a decade ago, its first stops were Chicago, Philadelphia and Dallas, three of the league’s biggest markets. The concept was an instant hit, turning a show cloistered for a half century in hotels and theaters in Manhattan into a free, three-day football festival that drew…
‘Pay Later’ Lenders Have an Issue With Credit Bureaus
Shoppers in recent years have embraced “buy now, pay later” loans as an easy, interest-free way to purchase everything from sweaters to concert tickets. The loans typically are not reported on consumers’ credit reports, however, or reflected in their credit scores. That has stoked concerns that users might be taking on an outsize amount of…
A Bill to Limit Canada’s Trade Negotiators on Farm Goods Edges Nearer to Law
Private members’ bills, particularly those from members of the Bloc Québécois, rarely make their way through the parliamentary process. But after passing the House of Commons with strong support from members of all parties, a bill from Yves Perron, who speaks for the Bloc on farming, handily passed a second vote in the unelected Senate…
Could the Union Victory at VW Set Off a Wave?
“If workers in Chattanooga get a great contract, a big raise, better health benefits, and then the same thing at Mercedes, there will be a lot more good opportunities to win good contracts in short order,” said Madeline Janis, co-executive director of Jobs to Move America, a group that seeks to create good jobs in…
Start-Up Founder Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison for Fraud
Another start-up founder is going to prison for overstating his company’s performance to investors. Manish Lachwani, who last year pleaded guilty to three counts of defrauding investors at his software start-up, HeadSpin, was sentenced to one and a half years in prison on Friday. He will also pay a fine of $1 million. Government prosecutors…
The Global Turn Away From Free-Market Policies Worries Economists
Meeting outside Paris last week, top officials from France, Germany and Italy pledged to pursue a coordinated economic policy to counter stepped-up efforts by Washington and Beijing to protect their own homegrown businesses. The three European countries have joined the parade of others that are enthusiastically embracing industrial policies — the catchall term for a…
Chinese Exports Are Threatening Biden’s Industrial Agenda
The president is increasingly hitting back with tariffs and other measures meant to restrict imports, raising tensions with Beijing.
A Japanese Village Wants Tourists to Come for Heat, Soot and Steel
This past October, I found myself in Yoshida Village standing before a tatara, a giant open-top furnace that was filled with charcoal and raging with such controlled ferocity that it could have been a set piece in Lucifer’s bedroom. Deep within the belly of those orange flames sat a growing and mangled ingot that contained…
Biden Calls for Tariffs on Chinese Steel in Pittsburgh Pitch, Vying With Trump for Votes
President Biden on Wednesday called for major increases to some tariffs on steel and aluminum products from China, speaking to members of a national steelworkers union in Pittsburgh as he vies with former President Donald J. Trump for votes in Northern industrial states. “These are strategic and targeted actions that are going to protect American…
VW Workers in Tennessee Start Vote on U.A.W., Testing Union Ambitions
Last fall the United Automobile Workers union won big pay increases from the Detroit automakers, and the impact rippled quickly through the nonunion auto plants scattered across the South. Afterward, Toyota, Honda, Volkswagen, Nissan, Hyundai and Tesla raised wages for their own hourly workers in the United States, none of whom are unionized. On production…
Why Better Times (and Big Raises) Haven’t Cured the Inflation Hangover
Some 64 percent of Pennsylvanians responding to a Quinnipiac poll in early January described their financial situation as excellent or good; 24 percent characterized it as “not so good,” and only 9 percent called it poor. But in the same survey, only 33 percent of Pennsylvanians described “the state of the nation’s economy” as excellent…
3 Facts That Help Explain a Confusing Economic Moment
The path to a “soft landing” doesn’t seem as smooth as it did four months ago. But the expectations of a year ago have been surpassed. April 13, 2024 The economic news of the past two weeks has been enough to leave even seasoned observers feeling whipsawed. The unemployment rate fell. Inflation rose. The stock…
Immigrants in Maine Are Filling a Labor Gap. It May Be a Prelude for the U.S.
Maine has a lot of lobsters. It also has a lot of older people, ones who are less and less willing and able to catch, clean and sell the crustaceans that make up a $1 billion industry for the state. Companies are turning to foreign-born workers to bridge the divide. “Folks born in Maine are…
Is the Boom-and-Bust Business Cycle Dead?
The rise of international trade, Mr. Kelly added, can often offset slowing domestic demand since businesses, enabled by the internet, can find customers throughout the globe. And the service sector’s growth, he concluded, has “made the economy more stable and, importantly, less sensitive to interest rates.” Across the economics profession, many are not feeling as…
Soft Landing or No Landing? Fed’s Economic Picture Gets Complicated.
America seemed headed for an economic fairy-tale ending in late 2023. The painfully rapid inflation that had kicked off in 2021 appeared to be cooling in earnest, and economic growth had begun to gradually moderate after a series of Federal Reserve interest rate increases. But 2024 has brought a spate of surprises: The economy is…
Higher for Longer After All? Investors See Fed Rates Falling More Slowly.
Investors were betting big on Federal Reserve rate cuts at the start of 2024, wagering that central bankers would lower interest rates to around 4 percent by the end of the year. But after months of stubborn inflation and strong economic growth, the outlook is starting to look much less dramatic. Market pricing now suggests…
Yellen Sees ‘More Work to Do’ as China Talks End With No Breakthrough
Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen was warmly received in China, but it was evident that the level of trust between the two sides does not run deep.
TSMC Will Receive $6.6 Billion to Bolster U.S. Chip Manufacturing
The Biden administration will award up to $6.6 billion in grants to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the leading maker of the most advanced microchips, in a bid to bring some of the most cutting-edge semiconductor technology to the United States. The funds, which come from the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, will help support the…
New Questions on How a Key Agency Shared Inflation Data
The Bureau of Labor Statistics shared more information about inflation with Wall Street “super users” than previously disclosed, emails from the agency show. The revelation is likely to prompt further scrutiny of the way the government shares economic data at a time when such information keenly interests investors. An economist at the agency set off…
Why a Second Trump Term Could Be Bad for Corporate America
There was anxiety in the thin mountain air when the planet’s economic leaders gathered in January at Davos for the 54th meeting of the World Economic Forum. Donald Trump had just trounced Nikki Haley in the Iowa caucuses, all but securing the Republican nomination for president. Haley was reliable, a known quantity. A resurgent Trump,…
Yellen Warns China on Exports and Russia Support
Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen confronted her Chinese counterpart about China’s surging exports of inexpensive electric vehicles and other green energy goods, saying that they were a threat to American jobs and urging Beijing to scale back its industrial strategy, the U.S. government has said. Ms. Yellen also warned her counterpart, Vice Premier He Lifeng,…
Consumers Hate ‘Price Discrimination,’ but They Sure Love a Discount
Zohar Gilad runs Fast Simon, a company that helps retailers optimize their websites. Instead of offering different prices, they might display higher-end items for customers with a free-spending buying history, and clearance items for bargain hunters. Targeted coupons for hesitant browsers also create a personalized price by another name, creating a sale that might not…
Mercedes-Benz Workers in Alabama Ask for Unionization Vote
Workers at a Mercedes-Benz factory in Alabama have petitioned federal officials to hold a vote on whether to join the United Automobile Workers, the union said on Friday, a step forward for its drive to organize workers at car factories in the South. The union is trying to build on the momentum from the contracts…
Kate Shindle on Why She’s Stepping Down as Actors’ Equity President
Kate Shindle, who has served as president of Actors’ Equity Association for nine years, is stepping down after a tenure dominated by the coronavirus pandemic that for a time idled all of the labor union’s members. Shindle, 47, said she expected to remain active in the labor movement, but that she was eager to resume…
As Wildfires Grow Fiercer, Some Companies Look to Rebuild the Tree Supply Chain
When it came to wildfires, 2021 was an increasingly common kind of year in Montana: Flames consumed 747,000 acres, an area nearly the size of Long Island. About 2,700 of those acres were on Don Harland’s Sheep Creek Ranch, where ever-drier summers have turned lodgepole pines into matchsticks ready to ignite. After the smoke cleared,…
Fed Chair Powell Wants Inflation to Cool More
Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, reiterated on Wednesday that the central bank can take its time before cutting interest rates as inflation fades and economic growth holds up. The central bank chief also used a speech at Stanford to emphasize the Fed’s independence from politics, a relevant message at a time…
Poor Nations Are Writing a New Handbook for Getting Rich
For more than half a century, the handbook for how developing countries can grow rich hasn’t changed much: Move subsistence farmers into manufacturing jobs, and then sell what they produce to the rest of the world. The recipe — customized in varying ways by Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and China — has produced…
Will A.I. Boost Productivity? Companies Sure Hope So.
Wendy’s menu boards. Ben & Jerry’s grocery store freezers. Abercrombie & Fitch’s marketing. Many mainstays of the American customer experience are increasingly powered by artificial intelligence. The question is whether the technology will actually make companies more efficient. Rapid productivity improvement is the dream for both companies and economic policymakers. If output per hour holds…
Fed Chair Says Central Bank Need Not ‘Hurry’ to Cut Rates
Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, said on Friday that resilient economic growth is giving the central bank the flexibility to be patient before cutting interest rates. Fed officials raised interest rates sharply from early 2022 to mid-2023, and they have left them at about 5.3 percent since last July. That relatively…
Baltimore Bridge Collapse Creates Upheaval at Largest U.S. Port for Car Trade
A bridge collapse closed Baltimore’s port, an important trade hub that ranks first in the nation by the volume of automobiles and light trucks it handles.
Happy-Go-Lucky Australia Is Feeling Neither Happy, Nor Lucky
After enjoying decades of prosperity, the country has hit stubborn economic turbulence.
California $20 Fast-Food Minimum Wage Is Coming April 1
The ambitious law, which supporters hope to see replicated nationwide, has been characterized by opposing sides in stark terms. To backers, it is a step toward fair compensation for low-wage workers who faced significant risk during the pandemic. To opponents, it is a cataclysmic move that will raise food prices, lead to job losses and…
Baltimore Bridge Collapse Shows Fragility of Global Trade
Even before an enormous container ship rammed a bridge in Baltimore in the early hours of Tuesday, sending the span hurtling into the Patapsco River, and halting cargo traffic at a major American port, there was ample reason to worry about the troubles dogging the global supply chain. Between swirling geopolitical winds, the variables of…
They Grow Your Berries and Peaches, but Often Lack One Item: Insurance
Farmers who grow fresh fruits and vegetables are often finding crop insurance prohibitively expensive — or even unavailable — as climate change escalates the likelihood of drought and floods capable of decimating harvests. Their predicament has left some small farmers questioning their future on the land. Efforts to increase the availability and affordability of crop…
The Trustbuster Who Has Apple and Google in His Sights
Shortly after Jonathan Kanter took over the Justice Department’s antitrust division in November 2021, the agency secured an additional $50 million to investigate monopolies, bust criminal cartels and block mergers. To celebrate, Mr. Kanter bought a prop of a giant check, placed it outside his office and wrote on the check’s memo line: “Break ’Em…
‘Strike Madness’ Hits Germany While Its Economy Stumbles
For those striking at the gates of the SRW scrap metal plant, just outside Germany’s eastern city of Leipzig, time can be counted not just in days — 136 so far — but in the thousands of card games played, the liters of coffee imbibed and the armfuls of firewood burned. Or it can be…
What Comes Next for the Housing Market?
Federal Reserve officials are planning to cut interest rates this year, real estate agents are likely to slash their commissions after a major settlement and President Biden has begun to look for ways his administration can alleviate high housing costs. A lot of change is happening in the housing market, in short. While sales have…
Why the Panama Canal Didn’t Lose Money When Ship Crossings Fell
Low water levels have forced officials to slash the number of ships that are allowed through the Panama Canal, disrupting global supply chains and pushing up transportation costs. But, remarkably, the big drop in ship traffic has not — at least so far — led to a financial crunch for the canal, which passes on…
Email ‘Mistake’ on Inflation Data Prompts Questions on What Is Shared
One afternoon in late February, an employee at the Bureau of Labor Statistics sent an email about an obscure detail in the way the government calculates inflation — and set off an unlikely firestorm. Economists on Wall Street had spent two weeks puzzling over an unexpected jump in housing costs in the Consumer Price Index.…
Fed Meets Amid Worries That Inflation Progress Might Stall
Slowing America’s rapid inflation has been an unexpectedly painless process so far. High interest rates are making it expensive to take out a mortgage or borrow to start a business, but they have not slammed the brakes on economic growth or drastically pushed up unemployment. Still, price increases have been hovering around 3.2 percent for…
Japan’s Labor Market Has a Lesson for the Fed: Women Can Surprise You
Japan’s economy has rocketed into the headlines this year as inflation returns for the first time in decades, workers win wage gains and the Bank of Japan raises interest rates for the first time in 17 years. But there’s another, longer-running trend happening in the Japanese economy that could prove interesting for American policymakers: Female…
Can Europe Save Forests Without Killing Jobs in Malaysia?
The European Union’s upcoming ban on imports linked to deforestation has been hailed as a “gold standard” in climate policy: a meaningful step to protect the world’s forests, which help remove planet-killing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The law requires traders to trace the origins of a head-spinning variety of products — beef to books,…
U.S. Judge Blocks Rule Extending Reach of Labor Law to Franchisers
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which led a group of business groups challenging the rule, applauded the ruling. “It will prevent businesses from facing new liabilities related to workplaces they don’t control, and workers they don’t actually employ,” Suzanne P. Clark, chief executive of the chamber, said in a statement. The labor board’s chair, Lauren…
Biden Budget Lays Out Battle Lines Against Trump
President Biden in his budget this week staked out major economic battle lines with former President Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. The proposal offers the nation a glimpse of the diverging directions that retirement programs, taxes, trade and energy policy could take depending on the outcome of the November election. During the…
Biden’s $7.3 Trillion Budget Proposal Highlights Divide With Trump and GOP
President Biden proposed a $7.3 trillion budget on Monday packed with tax increases on corporations and high earners, new spending on social programs and a wide range of efforts to combat high consumer costs like housing and college tuition. The proposal includes only relatively small changes from the budget plan Mr. Biden submitted last year,…
The jobs report comes as the Fed considers the timing of interest rate cuts.
The Federal Reserve is considering when and how much to cut interest rates, and the employment report on Friday will give policymakers an up-to-date hint at how the economy is evolving ahead of their next policy meeting. Fed officials meet on March 19-20, and they are widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at that…
The Surprising Left-Right Alliance That Wants More Apartments in Suburbs
The YIMBY movement isn’t just for liberals any more. Legislators from both sides of the political divide are working to add duplexes and apartments to single-family neighborhoods.
How Trump’s Justice Dept. Derailed an Investigation of a Major Company
In December 2018, a team of federal law enforcement agents flew to Amsterdam to interview a witness in a yearslong criminal investigation into Caterpillar, which had avoided billions of dollars of income taxes by shifting profits to a Swiss subsidiary. A few hours before the interview was set to begin, the agents were startled to…
Biden Portrays Next Phase of Economic Agenda as Middle-Class Lifeline
President Biden used his State of the Union speech on Thursday to remind Americans of his efforts to steer the nation’s economy out of a pandemic recession, and to lay the groundwork for a second term focused on making the economy more equitable by raising taxes on companies and the wealthy while taking steps to…
U.S. employers added 275,000 jobs last month.
Economists are trying to gauge whether last year’s forecasts of a slowing labor market were mistaken or simply premature.
Rivian Will Delay Construction of a $5 Billion Factory in Georgia
“Our Georgia site remains really important to us,” Rivian’s chief executive, R.J. Scaringe, said at an event on Thursday where he unveiled two new sport-utility vehicles. “It’s core to scaling across all these vehicles.” One of the S.U.V.s, called the R2, is a five-passenger vehicle that is expected to be available in the first half…
Bank Runs Spooked Regulators. Now a Clampdown Is Coming.
One year after a series of bank runs threatened the financial system, government officials are preparing to unveil a regulatory response aimed at preventing future meltdowns. After months of floating fixes at conferences and in quiet conversations with bank executives, the Federal Reserve and other regulators could unveil new rules this spring. At least some…
Brighter Economic Mood Isn’t Translating Into Support for Biden
Economic vibes don’t necessarily predict electoral outcomes, though, and this campaign is different in many ways from those in the past. “We’re kind of in an unprecedented situation where we’re weighing two incumbents,” said Joanne Hsu, who runs the Michigan survey. Anthony Rice, a 54-year-old Democrat in eastern Indiana, and pretty much everyone he knows,…
Auto Insurance Spike Hampers the Inflation Fight
Job growth, wage growth and business growth are all lively, and inflation has steeply fallen from its 2022 highs. But consumer sentiment, while improving, is still sour. One reason may be sticker shock from some highly visible prices — even as overall inflation has calmed. The cost of car insurance is a key example. Motor…
Shrinkflation 101: The Economics of Smaller Groceries
Grocery store shoppers are noticing something amiss. Air-filled bags of chips. Shrunken soup cans. Diminished detergent packages. Companies are downsizing products without downsizing prices, and consumer posts from Reddit to TikTok to the New York Times comments section drip with indignation at the trend, widely known as “shrinkflation.” The practice isn’t new. Sellers have been…
Reduflación: qué pasa cuando los comestibles pesan menos y cuestan igual
Los compradores de comestibles están notando algo raro. Bolsas de papas fritas llenas de aire. Latas de sopa que se han encogido. Paquetes de detergente más pequeños. Las empresas están reduciendo el tamaño de sus productos sin reducir los precios, y los comentarios de los consumidores, desde Reddit a TikTok, pasando por la sección de…
How 33-Year-Olds, the Peak Millennials, Are Shaping the U.S. Economy
I have covered economics for 11 years now, and in that time, I have come to the realization that I am a statistic. Every time I make a major life choice, I promptly watch it become the thing that everyone is doing that year. I started college in 2009, in the era of all-time-high matriculation…
Brian Mulroney Divided and Reshaped Canada Through Free Trade With the U.S.
Brian Mulroney first led the Progressive Conservatives to power while I was early in my career as a journalist. But his political life was never something that I covered in any great detail. His decision to negotiate a free trade agreement with the United States transformed Canada’s economic history and did, however, consume much of…
California’s Economy Pinched by Unemployment
For decades, California’s behemoth economy has outpaced those of most nations, holding an outsize role in shaping global trends in tech, entertainment and agriculture. While that reputation remains, the state has a less enviable distinction: one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates. Nationwide, the rate is 3.7 percent, and in January, the country added 353,000…
High Mortgage Rates Leave Biden Searching for Housing Relief
President Biden and his economic team, concerned that elevated mortgage rates and housing costs are hurting Americans and hindering his re-election bid, are searching for new ways to make housing more available and affordable. Mr. Biden’s forthcoming budget request will call on Congress to pass a raft of initiatives to build more affordable housing and…
Disney Heirs Line Up Against Nelson Peltz and Activist Investors
It’s a classic Disney movie plot: A family comes together to fight an enemy. Only this time it is happening in real life, with the grandchildren of Walt and Roy Disney, who founded the company in 1923, joining forces to oppose Nelson Peltz, the activist investor who is waging a proxy battle for board seats.…
Migrants Help the Economy, but There Are Many Roadblocks to Work
The U.S. economic recovery from the pandemic has been stronger and more durable than many experts had expected, and a rebound in immigration is a big reason. A resumption in visa processing in 2021 and 2022 jump-started employment, allowing foreign-born workers to fill some holes in the labor force that persisted across industries and locations…
An Emboldened F.T.C. Bolsters Biden’s Efforts to Address Inflation
An independent federal agency has become one of the most reliable executors of President Biden’s attempts to fight inflation, at a time when the White House has few weapons of its own to quickly bring down stubbornly high prices of consumer staples like groceries. The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit on Monday, joined by…
Starbucks and Union Agree to Work Out Framework for Contract Talks
Starbucks and the union that represents employees in roughly 400 of its U.S. stores announced Tuesday that they were beginning discussions on a “foundational framework” that would help the company reach labor agreements with unionized workers and resolve litigation between the two sides. The union greeted the development as a major shift in strategy for…
Yellen Urges Israel to Restore Economic Ties to West Bank
The Treasury secretary said she called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to reduce barriers to commerce for Palestinians.
Biden Targets a New Economic Villain: Shrinkflation
On Super Bowl Sunday, the White House released a short video in which a smiling President Biden, sitting next to a table stocked with chips, cookies and sports drinks, slammed companies for reducing the package size and portions of popular foods without an accompanying reduction in price. “I’ve had enough of what they call shrinkflation,”…
Rents Are Falling. So Why Isn’t That Showing Up in Inflation Data?
The Federal Reserve may have a housing problem. At the very least, it has a housing riddle. Overall inflation has eased substantially over the past year. But housing has proved a tenacious — and surprising — exception. The cost of shelter was up 6 percent in January from a year earlier, and rose faster on…
Can a Tech Giant Be Woke?
The December day in 2021 that set off a revolution across the videogame industry appeared to start innocuously enough. Managers at a Wisconsin studio called Raven began meeting one by one with quality assurance testers, who vet video games for bugs, to announce that the company was overhauling their department. Going forward, managers said, the…
What Is Your Housing Situation? We Want to Hear From You.
“No society can be fully understood apart from the residences of its members.” I have that quote (from “Crabgrass Frontier,” the seminal history of America’s suburbs) taped to a wall behind my desk. It summarizes why I love covering housing for The New York Times and seem never to run out of things to write…
2 Years Into Russia-Ukraine War, U.S. Campaign to Isolate Putin Shows Limits
The Biden administration and European allies call President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia a tyrant and a war criminal. But he enjoys a standing invitation to the halls of power in Brazil. The president of Brazil says that Ukraine and Russia are both to blame for the war that began with the Russian military’s invasion.…
New Freighters Could Ease Red Sea Cargo Disruptions
After the Houthi militia started attacking container ships in the Red Sea last year, the cost of shipping goods from Asia soared by over 300 percent, prompting fears that supply chain disruptions might once again roil the global economy. The Houthis, who are backed by Iran and control northern Yemen, continue to threaten ships, forcing…
Fed Minutes Show Embrace of Inflation Progress but No Hurry to Cut Rates
Federal Reserve officials welcomed a recent inflation slowdown at their last meeting in late January but were intent on proceeding carefully as they tiptoe toward rate cuts, according to minutes from that gathering, which were released on Wednesday. Central bankers raised interest rates sharply from March 2022 to July 2023, pushing them to 5.3 percent…
U.S. Economy: Has an Era of Increased Productivity Returned?
The last time the American economy was posting surprising economic growth numbers amid rapid wage gains and moderating inflation, Ace of Base and All-4-One topped the Billboard charts and denim overalls were in vogue. Thirty years ago, officials at the Federal Reserve were hotly debating whether the economy could continue to chug along so vigorously…
Will Food Prices Stop Rising Quickly? Many Companies Say Yes.
Few prices are as visible to Americans as the ones they encounter at the grocery store or drive-through window, which is why two years of rapid food inflation have been a major drag for U.S. households and the Biden administration. Shoppers have only slowly regained confidence in the state of the economy as they pay…
U.S. Awards $1.5 Billion to Chipmaker GlobalFoundries
The Biden administration on Monday announced a $1.5 billion award to the New York-based chipmaker GlobalFoundries, one of the first sizable grants from a government program aimed at revitalizing semiconductor manufacturing in the United States. As part of the plan to bolster GlobalFoundries, the administration will also make available another $1.6 billion in federal loans.…
Nature Has Value. Could We Literally Invest in It?
Picture this: You own a few hundred acres near a growing town that your family has been farming for generations. Turning a profit has gotten harder, and none of your children want to take it over. You don’t want to sell the land; you love the open space, the flora and fauna it hosts. But…
The Great Compression – The New York Times
Robert Lanter lives in a 600-square-foot house that can be traversed in five seconds and vacuumed from a single outlet. He doesn’t have a coffee table in the living room because it would obstruct the front door. When relatives come to visit, Mr. Lanter says jokingly, but only partly, they have to tour one at…
Amazon Argues National Labor Relations Board Is Unconstitutional
In the latest sign of a growing backlash within corporate America to the 88-year-old federal agency that enforces labor rights, Amazon argued in a legal filing on Thursday that the National Labor Relations Board was unconstitutional. The move followed a similar argument by SpaceX, the rocket company founded and run by Elon Musk, in a…
Three Lessons From a Surprisingly Resilient Job Market
The pandemic created an economic crisis unlike any recession on record. So perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that the aftermath, too, has played out in a way that almost no economists expected. When unemployment soared in the first weeks of the pandemic, many feared a repeat of the long, slow rebound from the Great Recession:…
Can America Turn a Productivity Boomlet Into a Boom?
Kevin Rezvani came of age in kitchens: spending summers at his grandfather’s bakery in Japan, doing work-study in his college cafeteria and working for years as a line cook at mid-tier restaurants, along with some stints in fast food. By his late 20s, the biggest takeaway Mr. Rezvani had from his experience “working in every…
This Arctic Circle Town Expected a Green Energy Boom. Then Came Bidenomics.
In Mo i Rana, a small Norwegian industrial town on the cusp of the Arctic Circle, a cavernous gray factory sits empty and unfinished in the snowy twilight — a monument to unfulfilled economic hope. The electric battery company Freyr was partway through constructing this hulking facility when the Biden administration’s sweeping climate bill passed…
American Firms Invested $1 Billion in Chinese Chips, Lawmakers Find
A congressional investigation has determined that five American venture capital firms invested more than $1 billion in China’s semiconductor industry since 2001, fueling the growth of a sector that the United States government now regards as a national security threat. Funds supplied by the five firms — GGV Capital, GSR Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Sequoia Capital…
Pro Sports in Las Vegas Aren’t Cheered by Everyone
The history of Las Vegas has been marked by a relentless churn of hotels, casinos, theaters and restaurants. But only recently has the city’s landscape included major professional sports teams. The Golden Knights of the National Hockey League were the first to start play here in 2017. The Aces of the Women’s National Basketball Association…
President of Powerful Service Workers Union Will Step Down
Mary Kay Henry, the president of the Service Employees International Union, one of the nation’s largest and most politically powerful labor unions, announced Tuesday that she would step down after 14 years in her position. Ms. Henry was the first woman elected to lead the union, which represents nearly two million workers like janitors and…
For First Time in Two Decades, U.S. Buys More From Mexico Than China
In the depths of the pandemic, as global supply chains buckled and the cost of shipping a container from China soared nearly twentyfold, Marco Villarreal spied an opportunity. In 2021, Mr. Villarreal resigned as Caterpillar’s director general in Mexico and began nurturing ties with companies looking to shift manufacturing from China to Mexico. He found…
Maui Economy, 6 Months After Wildfire, Is Still Reeling
Twisted and charred aluminum mixed with shards of glass still lines the floor of the industrial warehouse where Victoria Martocci once operated her scuba diving business. After a wildfire tore through West Maui, all that remained of her 36-foot boat, the Extended Horizons II, were a pair of engines. That was six months ago, but…
Ford Reports Quarterly Loss but Says Sales Grew
Ford Motor said it lost $526 million in the final three months of 2023, mainly as a result of special charges related to its employee pension programs and the reorganization of some of its overseas operations. The automaker said its fourth-quarter revenue rose to $46 billion, from $44 billion a year earlier, thanks to strong…
Yellen Says Stable Financial System Is Key to U.S. Economic Strength
Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen will tell lawmakers on Tuesday that the United States has had a “historic” economic recovery from the pandemic but that regulators must vigilantly safeguard the financial system from an array of looming risks to preserve the gains of the last three years. Ms. Yellen will deliver the comments in testimony…
Why Are Americans Wary While the Economy Is Healthy? Look at Nevada.
Toni Irizarry recognizes that the economy has improved. Compared with the first wave of the pandemic, when Las Vegas went dark, and joblessness soared to levels not seen since the Great Depression, these are days of relative normalcy. Ms. Irizarry, 64, oversees a cafe at the Orleans Hotel and Casino, a property just off the…
How Nevada Is Pushing to Generate Jobs Beyond the Casinos
Before the pandemic brought everyday life to a halt, Joe Kiele supported himself through the industry that dominates Nevada’s economy. He waited tables at a steakhouse inside a casino in Reno. Four years later, Mr. Kiele, 49, remains in Reno, yet he now spends his workday inside a factory. In place of worrying about the…
Fed Chair Powell Says Officials Need More ‘Good’ Data Before Cutting Rates
Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, made clear during a “60 Minutes” interview aired on Sunday night that the central bank is moving toward cutting interest rates as inflation recedes, but that policymakers need to see continued progress toward cooler price increases to make the first move. Mr. Powell was interviewed on…
For Biden, a Sunny Economy Could Finally Be a Potential Gain
A run of strong economic data appears to have finally punctured consumers’ sour mood about the U.S. economy, blasting away recession fears and potentially aiding President Biden in his re-election campaign. Mr. Biden has struggled to sell voters on the positive signs in the economy under his watch, including rapid job gains, low unemployment and…
U.S. Leading Soft Landing for Global Economy
The world is starting 2024 on an optimistic economic note, as inflation fades globally and growth remains more resilient than many forecasters had expected. Yet one country stands out for its surprising strength: the United States. After a sharp pop in prices rocked the world in 2021 and 2022 — fueled by supply chain breakdowns…
A City Built on Steel Tries to Reverse Its Decline
Gary, Ind., was once a symbol of American innovation. The home of U.S. Steel’s largest mill, Gary churned out the product that built America’s bridges, tunnels and skyscrapers. The city reaped the rewards, with a prosperous downtown and vibrant neighborhoods. Gary’s smokestacks are still prominent along Lake Michigan’s sandy shore, starkly juxtaposed between the eroding…
Job Market Starts 2024 With a Bang
The United States produced an unexpectedly sizable batch of jobs last month, a boon for American workers that shows the labor market retains remarkable strength after three years of expansion. Employers added 353,000 jobs in January on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Labor Department reported on Friday, and the unemployment rate remained at 3.7 percent.…
Trump’s Tariffs Hurt U.S. Jobs but Swayed American Voters, Study Says
New research finds that former President Donald J. Trump’s tariffs did not bring back U.S. jobs, but voters appeared to reward him for the levies anyway.
Biden Takes Aim at Grocery Chains Over Food Prices
President Biden, whose approval rating has suffered amid high inflation, is beginning to pressure large grocery chains to slash food prices for American consumers, accusing the stores of reaping excess profits and ripping off shoppers. “There are still too many corporations in America ripping people off: price gouging, junk fees, greedflation, shrinkflation,” Mr. Biden said…
The Federal Reserve Meets Wednesday. Here’s What to Watch.
Federal Reserve officials will conclude their two-day meeting on Wednesday, and they are widely expected to keep interest rates steady at a two-decade high when they release their policy decision at 2 p.m. But investors are likely to closely watch the meeting — particularly Chair Jerome H. Powell’s 2:30 p.m. news conference — for hints…
Global Economy Is Heading Toward ‘Soft Landing,’ I.M.F. Says
The global economy has been battered by a pandemic, record levels of inflation, protracted wars and skyrocketing interest rates over the past four years, raising fears of a painful worldwide downturn. But fresh forecasts published on Tuesday suggest that the world has managed to defy the odds, averting the threat of a so-called hard landing.…
Why Cut Rates in an Economy This Strong? A Big Question Confronts the Fed.
The Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at the conclusion of its meeting on Wednesday, but investors will be watching closely for any hint at when and how much it might lower those rates this year. The expected rate cuts raise a big question: Why would central bankers lower borrowing costs…
Walmart Offers Store Managers Company Stock to Make Them Feel Like ‘Owners’
Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, is raising salaries and benefits for store managers as it looks for ways to retain them. Walmart said on Monday that managers of its U.S. stores would be eligible for grants of up to $20,000 in company stock every year. The stock will vest over a three-year period, with…
Hottest Job in Corporate America? The Executive in Charge of A.I.
In September, the Mayo Clinic in Arizona created a first-of-its-kind job at the hospital system: chief artificial intelligence officer. Doctors at the Arizona site, which has facilities in Phoenix and Scottsdale, had experimented with A.I. for years. But after ChatGPT’s release in 2022 and an ensuing frenzy over the technology, the hospital decided it needed…
Private Equity Is Starting to Share With Workers, Without Taking a Financial Hit
In 2018, Anna-Lisa Miller was working with agricultural cooperatives in Hawaii, helping them reinvest in their communities through shared ownership. Ms. Miller, who had gone to law school and had planned to do civil rights litigation, loved the principle of workers partaking in the financial success of their employers, and the next year joined Project…
U.S. Economy Grew at 3.3% Rate in Latest Quarter
The U.S. economy continued to grow at a healthy pace at the end of 2023, capping a year in which unemployment remained low, inflation cooled and a widely predicted recession never materialized. Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, grew at a 3.3 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said on Thursday.…
Economists Predicted a Recession. Instead, the Economy Grew.
The recession America was expecting never showed up. Many economists spent early 2023 predicting a painful downturn, a view so widely held that some commentators started to treat it as a given. Inflation had spiked to the highest level in decades, and a range of forecasters thought that it would take a drop in demand…
Yellen Hits Trump Over Handling Of Economy
Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen defended the Biden administration’s economic agenda on Thursday, drawing sharp contrasts with the policies of the Trump administration as President Biden begins to make the general election argument that he has been a stronger steward of the economy than his predecessor. The comments from Ms. Yellen came after new data…
Taking on Trump, Biden Promotes ‘Infrastructure Decade’ in Wisconsin
Consumer confidence is up. Fears of a recession are abating. The economy is growing. And a corroded bridge in Wisconsin is receiving more funding. It is a wintry mix of positive news for President Biden, who traveled to the shores of a bay near Lake Superior on Thursday to stand at the foot of the…
In a New Cannabis Landscape, a Navy Veteran Battles for Racial Equity
“Transforming Spaces” is a series about women driving change in sometimes unexpected places. Jam the towel under the door. Open the window. And hide the bong. For decades, college students have found ways to mask the pungent aroma of marijuana smoke on campuses. Wanda James, however, did not always feel a need to hide. A…
Climate Change Takes Center Stage in Economics
In early January in San Antonio, dozens of Ph.D. economists packed into a small windowless room in the recesses of a Grand Hyatt to hear brand-new research on the hottest topic of their annual conference: how climate change is affecting everything. The papers in this session focused on the impact of natural disasters on mortgage…
Americans’ Economic Confidence Is Returning. Will Biden Benefit?
Low approval ratings and rock-bottom consumer confidence figures have dogged President Biden for months now, a worrying sign for the White House as the country enters a presidential election year. But recent data suggests the tide is beginning to turn. Americans are feeling more confident about the economy than they have in years, by some…
Where Textile Mills Thrived, Remnants Battle for Survival
In his 40-year career, William Lucas has seen nearly every step in the erosion of the American garment industry. As general manager of Eagle Sportswear, a company in Middlesex, N.C., that cuts, sews and assembles apparel, he hopes to keep what’s left of that industry intact. Mr. Lucas, 59, has invested hundreds of thousands of…
War Has Already Hurt the Economies of Israel’s Nearest Neighbors
In the Red Sea, attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi militants on commercial ships continue to disrupt a crucial trade route and raise shipping costs. The threat of escalation there and around flash points in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and now Iran and Pakistan ratchets up every day. Despite the staggering death toll and wrenching misery of…
The U.S. Seems to Be Dodging a Recession. What Could Go Wrong?
With inflation falling, unemployment low and the Federal Reserve signaling it could soon begin cutting interest rates, forecasters are becoming increasingly optimistic that the U.S. economy could avoid a recession. Wells Fargo last week became the latest big bank to predict that the economy will achieve a soft landing, gently slowing rather than screeching to…