Macroeconomic data, trends, and policy developments.
Coverage of key economic indicators, central bank policy decisions, inflation trends, labor data, and growth signals. This category focuses on the macroeconomic forces that shape markets, interest rates, and long-term capital allocation.
4,088 total articles
U.S. President Donald Trump said he plans an extensive discussion with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the war in Iran during his upcoming trip to China, but told reporters he does not expect to rely on Chinese assistance. Speaking as he departed the White House, Trump said he believes the situation with Iran is "very much under control" and tha…
The U.S. Treasury reported a $215 billion budget surplus for April, a decline of $43 billion, or 17%, from the $258 billion recorded a year earlier. The reduction reflects larger individual tax refunds and higher outlays, including increased interest costs and military expenditures tied to the war in Iran. Corporate receipts were weaker and customs…
Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel warned that the conflict in Iran and elevated energy costs could prompt the European Central Bank to raise interest rates. Nagel said rate hikes are becoming more likely if the inflation outlook does not change significantly, noting supply shocks can ripple through many categories of goods and that the euro-area e…
The Energy Information Administration projects consecutive record U.S. electricity consumption in 2025, 2026 and 2027, driven largely by data centers supporting artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, along with expanding electrification in buildings and transport. The EIA expects commercial electricity use to outpace residential consumption in…
Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee said the government’s consumer inflation report for last month showed a surprising rise in services inflation, signaling price pressures outside of oil and tariff effects. Speaking at a Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce event, he called the data an 'unexpected disappointment,' expressed concern a…
Federal agencies are processing more than $35.5 billion in tariff refunds to importers via an online portal after the Supreme Court found the president's tariff authority under IEEPA unlawful. The Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries tool has validated tens of thousands of declarations since its April 20 launch, while millions of i…
Anthropic PBC has introduced 12 legal-specific capabilities for its Claude chatbot, including a commercial counsel module for vendor agreement review and a bar exam preparation feature. The upgrades add integrations with DocuSign and Thomson Reuters products and a link to rival legal AI service Harvey. Paid users can access the tools through Claude…
April's consumer price index showed a sharper-than-expected increase, led by energy costs tied to the Middle East conflict. Headline CPI rose 0.6% month-on-month and 3.8% year-on-year, with core CPI up 0.4% M/M and 2.8% Y/Y. The jump in energy and gasoline prices accounted for a large share of the monthly gain, and market participants adjusted rate…
The Senate voted 51-45 on Tuesday to confirm Kevin Warsh to a 14-year term on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Lawmakers are set to hold a separate confirmation for the chairmanship later this week, with a procedural move expected soon and a final vote likely on Wednesday. The nomination unfolds amid political pressure on the Fed over intere…
The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Kevin Warsh to a full 14-year term as a governor of the Federal Reserve, advancing a parallel process to install him as chair as soon as Wednesday. The 51-45 confirmation, carried with a single Democrat joining Republicans, follows a cloture vote to begin consideration of Warsh's separate four-year term as Fed chair…
U.S. corporate bond markets have tightened significantly, driven by ample liquidity, resilient corporate fundamentals and strong investor demand. Investment-grade spreads are close to record lows while high-yield spreads have narrowed to levels not seen since September. Elevated issuance, anchored bank reserves and growing insurer participation are…
Filings from a set of 14 large business development companies (BDCs) show that private credit portfolios were marked lower in the first quarter, with the aggregate fair value-to-cost ratio sliding to 98.55% and roughly $1.2 billion of investments carried below amortized cost. Individual firms recorded sharp downgrades to fair value ratios and mater…
NYU Langone Health revealed it received a federal grand jury subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice requesting records related to gender-affirming care provided to patients aged 18 and under since 2020. The hospital said it was among several institutions that received subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Texas…
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has removed a proposed property tax increase from his forthcoming executive budget, following state agreement to provide additional funding. The change comes after the earlier proposal to raise property taxes by nearly 10% faced opposition and prompted negative credit outlooks for the city.
Argentina’s country risk index eased to 498 basis points on JPMorgan’s EMBI Global Diversified index, the lowest since early February, after a recent credit rating upgrade to B- with a stable outlook from Fitch. Officials say they prefer the spread to fall closer to 250 bps and to build reserves before re-entering international bond markets; econom…
The New York Federal Reserve's quarterly overview of consumer debt found that student loan borrowers remain the most troubled segment of household credit, even as broader measures of delinquency and total household debt showed only modest change. The report noted a moderation in the flow of student loans entering serious delinquency and described o…
Long-maturity UK government borrowing costs have climbed to levels not seen since 1998 as bond investors push back against perceived threats to fiscal discipline. The phenomenon known as 'bond vigilantes' has re-emerged amid higher debt loads across advanced economies, an energy-driven inflation uptick tied to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, and the …
President Donald Trump urged New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani to reconsider moves that could drive wealthy residents and business leaders from the city, saying the loss of figures such as Citadel founder Ken Griffin would be "sort of not recoverable." The dispute centers on a proposed tax on second homes, which Mamdani still supports even after abando…
U.S. consumer prices rose briskly for a second month in April, with energy and food costs the primary drivers, pushing the annual Consumer Price Index to its largest 12-month increase in three years. The data reinforce expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates at current levels, while raising political and economic concerns ahe…
The administration is finalizing potential presidential executive orders intended to reduce domestic beef prices by allowing more imports and offering additional support to rebuild the U.S. cattle herd. Planned signings that were expected on Monday have been postponed while officials continue to fine-tune the measures, a White House official said o…
Harvard faculty opened a one-week vote on a plan to limit A grades in undergraduate courses to no more than 20% of the class plus four students. The move, described as the most consequential effort in decades to curb grade inflation, comes after A grades comprised roughly 60% of grades in the academic year ending mid-2025 and fell to 53% in the fal…
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee warned that recent inflation readings point to widespread price pressures across the U.S. economy and could signal overheating. Speaking on NPR, Goolsbee highlighted accelerating inflation in April and singled out services inflation that excludes energy as an area of concern. The Bureau of L…
Analysts say the Beijing summit between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping is more likely to reinforce a fragile détente than to produce sweeping new agreements. Modest, market-oriented deliverables - such as Chinese purchases of U.S. farm goods and aircraft, eased rare earth restrictions, or the formation of a bilateral trade board - …
Futures tied to Canada’s main equity benchmark showed little movement on Tuesday as market participants monitored escalating tensions in the Middle East and fresh U.S. consumer price data. The Toronto market posted a modest gain on Monday led by oil and metals, while U.S. futures were broadly softer as headline and core U.S. CPI came in slightly ab…
Hungary’s incoming finance minister, Andras Karman, told lawmakers he will push to unfreeze European Union funding within months and to satisfy all requirements for joining the euro by 2030. Speaking at his confirmation hearing, Karman outlined plans to make fiscal policy more transparent and predictable, change taxation and economic planning, and …
