All three major US stock benchmarks closed lower Friday, each booking another week of losses, as investors weighed April jobs data amid heightened stagflation fears. The S&P 500 fell for a fifth straight week, its longest losing streak since June 2011, according to Dow Jones Market Data. How did stock indexes perform? The Dow Jones … Read more
It’s not great that there’s a major central bank officially predicting an economic contraction. Nor is it terrific that US productivity fell by the most since 1947 on rising labor costs. And let’s throw in China doubling down on its zero-COVID policy, which doesn’t exactly lend confidence in the world’s number-two economy. But Thursday’s 3.6% … Read more
Equity markets are starting to price “the rising risk of stagflation,” according to Research Affiliates chief executive officer Chris Brightman. “Investors are repositioning portfolios to protect the real value of their financial capital,” Brightman wrote in a Research Affiliates note this month. “Capital markets have panicked as investors try to anticipate how soon the Fed … Read more
Job openings and the number of times workers quit reached the highest levels on record in March, as a shortage of available workers continued to pressure the US labor market. The Labor Department on Tuesday reported a seasonally adjusted 11.5 million job openings in March, an increase from 11.3 million the prior month. The number … Read more
Text size Macro headwinds could make it tougher for Bitcoin and other cryptos. Dreamstime A bear market has settled in for tech stocks as the Fed turns hawkish. It doesn’t bode well for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Tea Nasdaq Composite Index has now slumped more than 20% from its peak last November, putting the tech-heavy … Read more
Job openings and the number of times workers quit reached the highest levels on record in March, the Labor Department said, as a shortage of available workers continued to pressure the US labor market. The Labor Department on Tuesday reported a seasonally adjusted 11.5 million job openings in March, an increase from 11.3 million the … Read more
Might recent stock market weakness be forecasting an economic recession? Up until last this week, few had given that possibility much credence. The market’s weakness — the S&P 500 SPX is down about 14% from its early-January 2022 all-time high, at last check — was caused by rising interest rates, the narrative went, and those … Read more
The recent report showing negative economic growth for the first quarter of the year is a painful reminder of the damage that inflation can do. The current 8.5% inflation rate is the highest in 40 years. But few policy makers or Federal Reserve governors seem to have learned the lessons from the last bout of … Read more
HONG KONG—Alibaba Group Holding ltd. BABA 9.90% and other Chinese technology stocks jumped by double-digit percentages, leading a broader market rally, on investor hopes that the government would do more to support the sector and the broader economy. The surge on Friday helped Chinese shares recoup some of their recent losses, while the yuan also … Read more
The numbers: The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation rose a sharp 0.9% in March, but the increase largely stemmed from a surge in the cost of gas and there were some signs that intense price pressures could be starting to ease. Over the past 12 months, the personal consumption price index has climbed 6.6%, … Read more