Category Archives: Federal Reserve

Fed cuts interest rates for second time this year amid economic uncertainty

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Central bank sets rates at range between 3.75% and 4% amid turbulence from government shutdown and Trump’s tariffs

The US Federal Reserve cut interest rates on Wednesday, the second rate cut this year amid economic turbulence from the federal government shutdown and Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The decision to cut the Fed’s benchmark interest rate by a quarter point to a range of 3.75% to 4% comes at an extraordinary moment for the central bank. The Fed has been under immense pressure from Donald Trump to cut rates despite persistent inflation.

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Lisa Cook urges supreme court to reject Trump’s bid to fire her from Fed board

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Cook’s lawyers say president’s unprecedented move would destroy Fed’s independence and disrupt financial markets

Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook urged the US supreme court on Thursday to reject Donald Trump’s attempt to fire her, telling the justices the Republican president’s unprecedented move would destroy the central bank’s independence and disrupt financial markets.

Lawyers for Cook filed a written response opposing the justice department’s 18 September emergency request to lift a federal judge’s order that blocked Trump from immediately removing Cook, an appointee of Democratic former president Joe Biden, while her legal challenge continues.

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Federal Reserve cuts interest rates by a quarter point, for first time in nearly a year – as it happened

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Rates now stand at a range of 4% to 4.25% as reduction comes amid concern of political pressure on independent central bank from Trump

A reporter asked Jerome Powell about Stephen Miran’s appointment, specifically on the fact that Miran is the first Fed governor to also have a role in the executive branch while also serving on the Fed board. Miran is the chair of the Council of Economic Advisors.

“The committee remains united in pursuing our dual mandate goals,” Powell said in response. “We’re strongly committed to maintaining our independence and beyond that, I really don’t have anything to share.”

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US treasury secretary reportedly made similar mortgage pledge to Lisa Cook

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Bloomberg reports Scott Bessent agreed to occupy two different houses at same time as his ‘principal residence’

Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, previously agreed to occupy two different houses at the same time as his “principal residence”, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, an agreement similar to one Donald Trump has called mortgage fraud in his unprecedented bid to fire the Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook.

The Bloomberg report cites Bessent’s mortgages with lender Bank of America and his pledge in 2007 to primarily occupy homes in New York and Massachusetts.

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Trump official confirmed to Fed board but court rejects Lisa Cook removal bid

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Senate votes 48-27 to confirm Stephen Miran as Fed governor but court rules Cook may remain in place

Senate Republicans voted on Monday to confirm a senior Trump official to the Federal Reserve’s board of governors as the White House raced to strengthen the US president’s control over the central bank ahead of its latest meeting.

Hours before Fed policymakers convene for their September decision on interest rates, the Senate voted 48 to 27 to confirm Stephen Miran – already chair of Donald Trump’s council of economic advisers – as a governor.

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US justice department opens criminal inquiry into Fed governor Lisa Cook

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Officials to investigate claims of mortgage fraud against Cook, who has refused to accept firing by Donald Trump

The US justice department has initiated a criminal investigation into mortgage fraud claims against Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook as a lawsuit she filed against Donald Trump over her firing makes its way through court.

Lawyers with the justice department have issued subpoenas for the investigation, according to the Wall Street Journal, who first reported the investigation, which has since been confirmed by multiple news publications.

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Fed chair Powell to give high-stakes speech at Jackson Hole amid Trump attacks

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Jerome Powell – who Trump has urged to resign – will address the economic outlook at a symposium in Wyoming

For months, the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, has ignored demands from Donald Trump to cut interest rates and defied the US president’s calls to resign.

On Friday, as Trump ramps up his extraordinary attack on the central bank’s independence, Powell will set out where he thinks the world’s largest economy is headed in a closely scrutinized speech at the Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming.

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Trump steps up attacks on Fed’s independence amid interest rates row

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US president called on top Fed officials to seize control from chair Jerome Powell if he fails to cut interest rates

Donald Trump called on top Federal Reserve officials to seize control from its chair, Jerome Powell, if he fails to cut interest rates, stepping up his extraordinary attacks on the central bank’s independence.

The US president called Powell “a stubborn MORON” in a series of critical social media posts on Friday, days after the Fed held rates steady for the fifth consecutive time.

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US stock markets fall again as Trump calls Fed chair ‘a major loser’

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President amps up attacks against Jerome Powell, pushing him to lower interest rates to offset impact of tariffs

US stock markets fell again on Monday as Donald Trump continued attacks against the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, who the US president called “a major loser” for not lowering interest rates.

“There can be a slowing of the economy unless Mr. Too Late, a major loser, lowers interest rates, NOW,” Trump wrote on social media.

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Fed holds interest rates steady amid uncertainty over Trump’s impact on economy

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President has made clear he wants rates to fall as benchmark interest rate now sits at a range of 4.25% to 4.5%

Federal Reserve officials decided on Wednesday to hold interest rates steady as uncertainty over Donald Trump’s impact on the US economy looms and inflation remains above the central bank’s target levels.

This is the first time Fed policymakers have met since the president, who has made clear he wants rates to fall, returned to the White House. The benchmark interest rate now sits at a range of 4.25% to 4.5%.

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Fed chair says he will not resign even if pressured by Trump as interest rate cut

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Trump has been a persistent critic of the Fed, which lowered rates for the second time in a row as inflation continues to ease

US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said he would not resign if he received any pressure from Donald Trump’s new administration to step down as the central bank lowered interest rates by a quarter-point Tuesday afternoon.

Trump has been a persistent critic of the Fed and its independence, calling its officials “boneheads” in his last administration and arguing that he should have a role in setting interest rates.

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Inflation pain helped secure Trump win but his policies mean higher prices

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Markets expect his policy package to harm trade and growth but reduce business taxes

Higher share prices. A stronger dollar. A less rapid pace of interest rate cuts. The financial market reaction to Donald Trump’s return to the White House was swift and predictable.

The man who will become his country’s 47th president has made no secret of what he plans to do: cut taxes, impose heavy tariffs on imported goods, place curbs on migration, and slash red tape.

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Stock markets hit record highs after news of a fall in US inflation

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S&P 500 index of major US companies registers near 100% gain on year ago amid expectation of interest rate cuts

A fall in US inflation expected to pave the way for further cuts in interest rates pushed stock markets to record highs on Friday.

Ending a week of gains that began when the Chinese authorities approved a huge economic stimulus package, the S&P 500 index of major US companies soared above 5,750 to register a near 100% gain on a year ago.

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Gold prices hit record high amid prospect of US interest rate cuts

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Spot price increases to $2,522.99, with record run meaning standard gold bar is worth more than $1m

Gold prices have hit a fresh high as increasing hopes of US interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve prompted investors to buy more of the precious metal.

The spot price of gold rose to a record $2,522.99 (£1,941.69) on Tuesday morning, up 0.7% on the day. Gold bars generally weigh 400 troy ounces (12.4kg), so a standard gold bar is now worth more than $1m.

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Federal Reserve ‘poised to begin cutting rates as early as September’

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Bank officials signal readiness to start interest rate-cutting cycle to ease pressure on households and businesses

Kamala Harris’s hopes of victory in the looming US presidential election have been given a boost by mounting expectations that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates from as early as September.

As Democrats gather for the party’s national convention in Chicago starting on Monday, economists on Wall Street said the world’s most powerful central bank was poised to begin a cycle of interest rate cuts before the end of the year.

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Global markets partly recover but analysts fear ‘we’re not out of woods’

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Shares on Wall Street and in Asia and Europe start to recover after Monday’s rout

Shares on Wall Street rose and many Asian and European markets staged a recovery after this week’s global stock market rout, but analysts warned: “We might not be out of the woods.”

The FTSE 100 index in London rose 18 points, or 0.2%, on Tuesday to close at 8,026.69, after losing 166 points, or 2%, on Monday, its biggest one-day points drop in more than a year.

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Fear of US recession rattles global markets as tech shares fall

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Europe’s main indices all decline and Japanese equities suffer worst day since 2020 while gold hits fresh record

Stock markets in Europe, Asia and New York tumbled on Friday as fears of a US economic slump grew and technology shares were hit by underwhelming earnings.

Concerns that the US could be sliding towards a recession spurred a global sell-off, which accelerated after a poor employment report on Friday showed that the US jobs market was cooling fast, pushing up the unemployment rate.

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Majority of Americans wrongly believe US is in recession – and most blame Biden

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Exclusive Harris poll for the Guardian shows 55% believe economy is shrinking, in troubling sign for president’s re-election bid

Nearly three in five Americans wrongly believe the US is in an economic recession, and the majority blame the Biden administration, according to a Harris poll conducted exclusively for the Guardian. The survey found persistent pessimism about the economy as election day draws closer.

The poll highlighted many misconceptions people have about the economy, including:

55% believe the economy is shrinking, and 56% think the US is experiencing a recession, though the broadest measure of the economy, gross domestic product (GDP), has been growing.

49% believe the S&P 500 stock market index is down for the year, though the index went up about 24% in 2023 and is up more than 12% this year.

49% believe that unemployment is at a 50-year high, though the unemployment rate has been under 4%, a near 50-year low.

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Fed leaves interest rates unchanged but signals three cuts this year

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Rates to stay at 25-year high of 5.25% to 5.5% as central bank says ‘inflation has eased over the past year but remains elevated’

The Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday that it would leave US interest rates at a 25-year high as it continues to assess their impact on cooling inflation and the wider economy.

After a two-day meeting, the Fed announced rates would be unchanged at 5.25% to 5.5%, where they have been since July. But the Fed signaled it still expects to cut rates three times this year.

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UK ditches post-Brexit Canada trade talks; Vodafone and Three UK merger under investigation – as it happened

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Live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets as Canada says UK was unwilling to give access to agricultural products

Shares in US chipmaker Intel have slumped in pre-market trading after it revealed a weaker forecast of earnings.

Chipmakers have been flying in recent years as shortages followed by the huge hype over artificial intelligence – which is hungry for processing power – prompted investors to pile into the sector.

Although Intel beat estimates, investors’ disappointment in Intel’s datacentre GPU story’s growth can be primarily attributed to the slower-than-expected product delivery and ramp-up.

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