Economy

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.

Articles

2,050 total articles

Bank of Canada Blames Import Costs for Most of 2025 Food Inflation Spike

Bank of Canada Blames Import Costs for Most of 2025 Food Inflation Spike

A Bank of Canada analysis attributes the sharp rise in grocery prices in 2025 mainly to higher costs for imported foodstuffs and processed goods, compounded by a weaker Canadian dollar and specific supply shortages. Food inflation reached 5% in December 2025, driven by large increases in certain categories and by domestic pressures in livestock and…

Altman Calls Moltbook a Fad but Highlights Durable Tech Behind OpenClaw

Altman Calls Moltbook a Fad but Highlights Durable Tech Behind OpenClaw

At the Cisco AI Summit in San Francisco, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman characterized the trending social experiment Moltbook as potentially short-lived while underscoring the lasting value of the underlying OpenClaw technology. He addressed the platform's rapid rise, described the capabilities supporters attribute to its bot, and noted that security flaws …

Dispute Over Inflation Measurement Unsettles Argentine Markets

Dispute Over Inflation Measurement Unsettles Argentine Markets

Argentina's financial markets reacted negatively after the head of the national statistics agency resigned and the implementation of a revised consumer price index (CPI) methodology was delayed. Authorities and market participants are at odds over the timing of the methodological change, a dispute that has revived concerns about statistical indepen…

Citadel’s Ken Griffin Urges Fiscal Restraint, Backs Warsh for Fed

Citadel’s Ken Griffin Urges Fiscal Restraint, Backs Warsh for Fed

At a financial conference on Tuesday, Citadel CEO Ken Griffin warned that rhetoric from the current administration has reduced the attractiveness of the U.S. dollar, urged greater fiscal discipline with bipartisan support to tackle the national debt, and endorsed Kevin Warsh as a solid choice for the Federal Reserve. He also commented that Democrat…

Warsh’s Fed Nomination Puts Balance Sheet Strategy in Flux

Warsh’s Fed Nomination Puts Balance Sheet Strategy in Flux

Wolfe Research says Kevin Warsh's arrival at the Federal Reserve creates a complex balance-sheet outlook in which both further easing and quantitative tightening (QT) are conceivable. Analyst Tobin Marcus highlights President Trump's mortgage-driven intervention and the Powell Fed's reserve management shift, while noting Warsh's history of advocati…

Dollar Disorder Tests Global Portfolios as Policy Moves Stoke Volatility

Dollar Disorder Tests Global Portfolios as Policy Moves Stoke Volatility

The U.S. dollar has swung sharply in response to policy developments and questions about Federal Reserve independence, unsettling commodity markets, lifting currency volatility and prompting investors to reassess exposures to U.S. assets. Sudden rebounds after a steep weekly decline have driven dramatic moves in gold, silver, copper and oil while a…

Mexico unveils 5.6 trillion-peso public-private investment plan for 2026-2030

Mexico unveils 5.6 trillion-peso public-private investment plan for 2026-2030

Mexico announced a 5.6 trillion-peso ($323.41 billion) public-private investment program targeting infrastructure and other major projects between 2026 and 2030. The plan centers on state-led joint ventures, with the government retaining majority ownership and oversight while using private capital to reduce risk. Eight sectors are designated as pri…

Greer Says High Stakes Drive Supreme Court's Cautious Review of Tariff Challenge

Greer Says High Stakes Drive Supreme Court's Cautious Review of Tariff Challenge

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC that the U.S. Supreme Court is taking a deliberate approach to a legal challenge to presidential tariffs, citing the large sums already collected and describing the issue as one of "extreme national interest." Greer also suggested the plaintiffs do not have "an open and shut case," which may be pro…

USTR Says High Court Is Moving Deliberately in Challenge to Trump-Era Tariffs

USTR Says High Court Is Moving Deliberately in Challenge to Trump-Era Tariffs

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC that the Supreme Court is proceeding cautiously in a case testing the lawfulness of President Donald Trump’s broad tariffs. Greer cited substantial revenues collected under the tariffs, said plaintiffs do not have an "open and shut case," and described the matter as involving an "extreme national i…

Barkin: Fed’s Rate Cuts Have Bolstered Jobs While Inflation Nears Final Stretch

Barkin: Fed’s Rate Cuts Have Bolstered Jobs While Inflation Nears Final Stretch

Richmond Federal Reserve President Tom Barkin said the rate cuts enacted since fall 2024 have provided insurance for the labor market as the Fed works to finish the ‘last mile’ of returning inflation to its 2% goal. Barkin noted that unemployment remains low by historical measures and inflation is about one percentage point above target but is expe…

Fed Governor Miran Urges More Than a Point of Rate Cuts This Year

Fed Governor Miran Urges More Than a Point of Rate Cuts This Year

Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran told Fox Business Network he expects more than a percentage point of interest rate reductions this year, arguing current policy is too restrictive even though headline inflation remains above the 2% target. Miran, whose term technically ended at the close of January but who remains in office until a successor …

Brazilian Central Bank Will Let Data Shape Size and Pace of Rate Cuts

Brazilian Central Bank Will Let Data Shape Size and Pace of Rate Cuts

Minutes from the central bank's January 28 meeting show the board left the Selic rate at 15% and said it will determine the magnitude and duration of any easing cycle based on evolving economic data. Policymakers stressed maintaining restrictive policy until disinflation is consolidated and inflation expectations align with targets, while noting th…

Markets Shift Focus to Powell After Warsh Nomination

Markets Shift Focus to Powell After Warsh Nomination

President Trump has nominated former Fed governor Kevin Warsh to replace Jerome Powell as chair, prompting analysts to assess when and whether Powell will formally resign. Barclays strategists say Powell must notify the White House if he intends to leave the Fed when his chair term ends in May, though his governor term runs until January 31, 2028. …

Pound Pauses Ahead of Bank of England Decision as Markets Await Rate Path

Pound Pauses Ahead of Bank of England Decision as Markets Await Rate Path

The pound was largely unchanged on Tuesday as traders awaited the Bank of England’s rate decision on Thursday. With a sparse UK economic calendar until mid-to-late February, recent upside surprises in GDP, retail sales and business activity have bolstered sterling this year. Markets expect the BoE to keep rates at 3.75% on Thursday before implement…

Paris Prosecutors Expand Inquiry Into X, Summon Elon Musk for April Questioning

Paris Prosecutors Expand Inquiry Into X, Summon Elon Musk for April Questioning

French prosecutors in Paris said they have broadened a criminal investigation into the social media service X and will question Elon Musk in April. The probe, started in January 2025 into alleged misuse of algorithms and fraudulent data extraction, has been extended following complaints tied to X's AI chatbot Grok. Prosecutors listed a range of pos…

Euro-area lenders pull back on corporate credit as trade uncertainty bites

Euro-area lenders pull back on corporate credit as trade uncertainty bites

A quarterly Bank Lending Survey from the European Central Bank shows euro-area banks tightened credit access for businesses last quarter and expect further restriction as economic uncertainty, including trade policy concerns, erodes risk tolerance and demand. Mortgage standards were eased in some markets, notably France, while loan demand rose mode…

Australia's Big Four Banks Lift Variable Mortgage Rates After RBA Hike

Australia's Big Four Banks Lift Variable Mortgage Rates After RBA Hike

Australia's four largest banks raised their variable home loan interest rates by 25 basis points on Feb 3, matching the Reserve Bank of Australia's decision the same day to increase the cash rate to 3.85% in a unanimous vote. The banks announced effective dates for the changes and flagged adjustments to certain business lending rates and ongoing re…