Jeff Cox

1 week ago | flipboard.com | Jeff Cox

1 day agoOn a recent New York-Tokyo flight, I bumped into a former Bank of Japan official. A senior, battle-tested one who has ostensibly seen it all. He was on the job during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Russia’s default in 1998, the Lehman Brothers crash in 2008, the “taper tantrum” of 2013, the …

1 week ago | cnbc.com | Jeff Cox

Consumer spending was stronger than expected in March as demand remained high despite declining sentiment, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. The advanced estimate of retail sales showed an increase of 1.4% on the month, better than the 1.2% Dow Jones estimate and higher than the 0.2% increase in February. Excluding autos, the numbers also were strong than expected, with sales up 0.5% compared to the 0.3% forecast.

1 week ago | cnbc.com | Jeff Cox

For appearance sake, the retail sales report Wednesday should look solid as consumers are still spending money. The details, though, likely will tell a different story. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect March to show a healthy 1.2% seasonally adjusted gain from February, which registered just a 0.2% increase , held back by bar and restaurant receipts as well as lower gas station sales due to falling oil prices. The numbers are not adjusted for inflation.

1 week ago | nbcnews.com | Jeff Cox

Consumer worries grew over inflation, unemployment and the stock market as the global trade war heated up in March, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey released Monday. The central bank’s monthly Survey of Consumer Expectations showed that respondents saw inflation a year from now at 3.6%, an increase of half a percentage point from February and the highest reading since October 2023.

1 week ago | cnbc.com | Jeff Cox

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said Monday he expects the impacts of President Donald Trump's tariffs on prices to be "transitory," embracing a term that got the central bank in trouble during the last bout of inflation. "I can hear the howls already that this must be a mistake given what happened in 2021 and 2022.