archiveJerome Powell

Wall Street economists are tweaking their GDP growth estimates as new data trickles in, with Trump's tariff whipsaw still firmly in the background. The Atlanta Fed's GDPNow tool, which uses already released data to forecast the quarterly pace of economic growth, now projects that GDP fell by 2.2% in the first three months of the year, an improvement from its prior April 9 projection of negative 2.4% growth. The update follows Wednesday's retail sales data, which rose 1.4% in March, matching forecasts. The control group in the release, which excludes...

It turns out there's a reason Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell always wears a purple tie at his press conferences. "At the beginning, the only significance was that I liked purple ties," Powell quipped during a moderated Q&A interview on Friday. "But I will say, for the next press conference, I reached for a blue tie or a red tie, and , 'Maybe not, you know?'" Powell said the importance of Fed independence served as a key catalyst for his color selection. Historically, "red" is a color most often associated...

The recently dubbed "Lag Seven" players are once again... lagging. After a brief comeback on Wednesday, fueled by the Federal Reserve, most of the major tech giants lost steam by late Thursday trading. The exceptions: Nvidia (NVDA) and Meta (META), which each rose a modest 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively, with less than twenty minutes left until the closing bell. Still, nearly all of the "Magnificent Seven" stocks are off by about 20% from their 52-week highs as risk-off sentiment pervades markets on the heels of greater policy and Fed uncertainties....

US stock futures rose as investors digested reassuring signals from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell after the central bank held interest rates steady on Wednesday. Futures attached to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) ticked up 0.2%. Futures attached to the benchmark S&P 500 (ES=F) and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (NQ=F) rose 0.3%. CBOT - Delayed Quote • USD As of 9:05:27 PM EDT. Market Open. YM=F ES=F NQ=F The Fed's decision to keep interest rates unchanged on Wednesday was expected on Wall Street, but markets rallied, driven by a sense...

The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged in a range of 4.25%-4.5% at its March meeting on Wednesday and signaled it maintain its previously expected pace of cuts. Fed officials see the fed funds rate falling to 3.9% this year, on par with its previous December projection. The central bank also raised its respective projections for year-end PCE inflation and the unemployment rate. At the same time, it lowered its economic growth forecast, noting in the policy statement, "Uncertainty around the economic outlook has increased." 15 officials predict a rate...