The Fed Delivers a Long-Awaited Rate Cut To virtually no one’s surprise, the Federal Reserve slashed the target on its key interest rate—the fed funds rate—at the conclusion of its meeting on Wednesday. The only question regarding the decision was whether the Fed...

Latest CPI Tees Up Fed Rate Cut The only thing that might have been standing in the way between the Federal Reserve and a rate cut this week was last Thursday’s release of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). While the inflation figures weren’t particularly soft, August’s...

No Hire, No Fire Economy For starters, the title is a simplified five-word summary of the labor market. Recall that last week, we explored the low level of layoffs. This week, we shift the focus to hiring trends. But first, let’s take a closer look at the numbers from...

Initial Claims and Economic Signals: What Investors Watch Initial claims for unemployment insurance measure the number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time. The data is released weekly, making it one of the most up-to-date indicators of labor...

Tariffs Breach the First Line Two important measures of inflation were released last week—both by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. First, the Consumer Price Index (CPI). It rose a modest 0.2% in July. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.3%. Overall,...

Another Outstanding Earnings Season The stock market is influenced by a wide range of variables, including economic activity, interest rates, inflation, earnings, and more. Today, we’ll focus on one factor that plays an outsized role in shaping market...