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Top Federal Reserve official says inflation fight seems nearly won, with rate…

Photo: The Canadian Press FILE- The seal of the Board of Governors of the United States Federal Reserve System is shown at the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building in Washington on Feb. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) A top Federal Reserve official said Tuesday that he is increasingly confident that inflation will continue falling this year back to the Fed's 2% target level, after two years of accelerating price spikes that hurt millions of American households. The official, Christopher Waller, an influential member of the Fed's Board of Governors, noted that inflation is slowing even as growth and hiring…

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Slips as Treasury Yields Rise

NEW YORK—Wall Street slipped Tuesday in a lackluster return to trading following a three-day holiday weekend. The S&P 500 fell 17.85 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,765.98. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 231.86, or 0.6 percent, to 37,361.12, and the Nasdaq composite sank 28.41, or 0.2 percent, to 14,944.35. Spirit Airlines lost 47.1 percent after a U.S. judge blocked its takeover by JetBlue Airways on concerns it would mean higher airfares for flyers. JetBlue rose 4.9 percent. Stocks of banks were mixed, meanwhile, as earnings reporting season ramps up for the final three months of 2023. Morgan Stanley sank 4.2 percent after…

Asia stocks falter on rate cut rethink

Asian stocks stumbled and the dollar was near a one-month high on Wednesday as hawkish rhetoric from central bankers beat back bets of early interest rate cuts, while geopolitical worries kept risk sentiment in check. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.31 per cent, touching a fresh one-month low. Japan's Nikkei shrugged off the broader malaise and was perched at a new 34-year peak. US Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said on Tuesday that while inflation was approaching the central bank's 2.0 per cent goal, the Fed should not rush to lower interest rates until lower inflation can clearly be…

Aust shares dip as expectations for quick rate cuts dim

The local share market is down slightly, following more pushback from central bankers on the pace of global interest rate cuts this year. At lunchtime AEDT on Wednesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had fallen 13.8 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 7,401.0, while the All Ordinaries had dropped 13.7 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 7,633.4. Overnight Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller said during a speech in Washington that the powerful US central bank should move "methodically and carefully" in cutting interest rates this year. "With economic activity and labour markets in good shape and inflation coming down gradually to two per…

What’s At Stake for China As Houthis Attack the Red Sea

With the Middle East conflict now past the 100-day mark, the Israeli military has launched a barrage of strikes deep within southern Lebanon while Iran has attacked a site in Iraq it has alleged is being used by Israel’s Mossad, stoking fears that the conflict could escalate into a full-blown regional conflict. Israel has, however, declared that it has ended its "intensive" phase of operations in northern Gaza and plans to do the same in southern Gaza. Japanese shipping operator Nippon Yusen has become the latest among dozens of shipping companies to suspend sailings through the Red Sea following incessant attacks on ships by Yemen…