Free Republic

A series of weak auctions for U.S. Treasurys are stoking investors’ concerns that markets will struggle to absorb an incoming rush of government debt. ... inflation not tamed ... Federal Reserve will leave interest rates at multidecade highs for .. years to come. The 10-year yield—the benchmark for borrowing rates on everything from mortgages to corporate loans—finished the week around 4.5%... At the same time, the government is poised to sell another $386 billion or so of bonds in May—an onslaught that Wall Street expects to continue no matter who wins November’s presidential election. While few fear a failed auction—an...

CONCERN has mounted over Russia’s central bank governor after she suddenly cancelled an appearance at an exhibition without explanation. It comes amid circulating rumours that Elvira Nabiullina, 60, has undergone an unspecified surgery at the Kremlin. Russia's central bank has declined to comment on the rumours, Reuters reported. The Kremlin has also refused to comment on the surgery rumours, appearing annoyed at the question. “I do not consider this question appropriate at our conference call,” Putin’s spokesman told journalists today. "This is absolutely personal information about health and we have neither the scope nor the desire to comment on it."

Trump Predicts the Fed Will Lower Rates to Help Democrats We also were keen to ask Trump if he thinks the Federal Reserve and Chairman Jerome Powell will cut interest rates specifically to help Joe Biden (or another Democrat) win the general election. The former President said he does think that is how things will play out. "Yeah, I think they will,” he said, before taking a light dig at Powell. “I was never a big fan of this guy,” Trump told us, before casually pointing the finger at his own Treasury Secretary. “Steve Mnuchin recommended him, but I was...

Russia's central bank has today raised its key interest rate by 100 basis points to 16%, hiking borrowing costs for the fifth meeting in a row under stubborn inflation pressure from widespread labour shortages, high lending and the weak rouble. The central bank has now raised rates by 850 basis points since July, including an unscheduled emergency hike in August as the rouble tumbled past 100 to the dollar and the Kremlin called for tighter monetary policy. The bank said pro-inflationary risks over the medium-term horizon remained substantial and warned that stabilising inflation near its 4% target would require high...

The Dow Jones industrial Average jumped to a record Wednesday as the Federal Reserve signaled it would cut rates several times next year, satisfying investors who hoped the central bank would finally start to acknowledge the slowing trend of inflation with a less-aggressive monetary stance. The 30-stock Dow added 374 points, or 1%. At its high of the day, the Dow touched 37,057.81 to surpass 37,000 for the first time and exceed its previous all-time high in January of 2022. The S&P 500 jumped 1% with bank and real estate shares leading the way, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1%....

Mortgage rates jumped again this week — remaining at a 23-year high and increasing the likelihood that rates could soon hit 8%. The rate on the average 30-year fixed mortgage increased to 7.49% from 7.31% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac, following the yield of the 10-year Treasury, which spiked to a 16-year high this week. Rates are at their highest point since December 2000 for a second week in a row, with few signs of softening. Steeper rates continue to smother homebuyer demand, forcing the price-conscious to the sidelines. Meanwhile, those still on the hunt leaned on lower-rate...

A Wall Street selloff intensified Tuesday as rising Treasury yields piled on pressure and investors got a reminder not to expect a Federal Reserve interest rate cut any time soon. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) dropped almost 1.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) tumbled about 1.1%, or more than 350 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) was down over 1.5% after closing with a gain on Monday. Hawkish comments by Fed policymakers reminded investors that resilience in the US economy likely means borrowing costs will stay higher for longer. Traders are now pricing in odds of 29% that policymakers...

The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark lending rate unchanged at a two-decade high, but suggested at least one more increase is likely between now and the end of the year as inflation remains elevated and the economy continues to perform. The Fed's Open Markets Committee held its key policy rate at between 5.25% and 5.5%, the highest in 22 years, in a move that was widely expected from markets following a quarter point rate hike in July. The Fed's new Summary of Economic projections, known as the dot plots, now calls for GDP stronger growth of 2.1% this year, more...

Interest rates on new mortgages remained broadly steady in July compared to the previous month, new data from the Central Bank shows. The average interest rate for new mortgage agreements was 4.06% for the month. That compares to 4.04% in June. New fixed rate mortgage rates averaged 4.04%, while new variable rate home loans averaged 4.18% Despite the small month on month increase though, compared to July of last year, new mortgage interest rates are 1.43% higher. That is reflective of some of the European Central Bank interest rate increases being passed through to borrowers. Since July of 2022, the...

Inflation accelerated in July: The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure, the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, rose 3.3% over one year earlier, up from June’s 3%. That’s still below the peak of 7% last summer — but heading back up in the wrong direction. Some claim it’s just a fluke. In fact, it’s most likely thanks to President Joe Biden’s new spending spree — care of the woefully misnamed “Inflation Reduction Act” kicking in — and means a whole new round of rising prices. That law, as we noted at the time, actually increased federal spending, and the deficit, in the...

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates as long as it is needed to bring inflation back to its long-term target of 2% per year given that the US economy is not cooling as was initially thought, Chairman Jerome Powell said on Friday. “It is the Fed’s job to bring inflation down to our 2% goal, and we will do so,” Powell stressed, opening the US central bank’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Inflation hit four-decade highs of more than 9% per year in June 2022 due to trillions of dollars of federal relief spending...

KEY POINTS • The median price of a home sold in July was $406,700, an increase of 1.9% from July of last year. • Sales fell month to month in all regions except the West, where they gained 2.7%. Sales fell the most in the Northeast, down 5.9%. • There were 1.11 million homes for sale at the end of July, 14.6% fewer than July 2022 and about half of the pre-Covid supply. Sales of previously owned homes dropped 2.2% in July from June to a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 4.07 million units, according to the National Association of...

Home mortgage rates have surged past 7%, hitting the highest level in more than 20 years and dealing another blow to Americans trying to break into the housing market. The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage was 7.09% this week, up from 6.96% last week and the highest since 2002, according to data released Thursday from mortgage giant Freddie Mac. One month ago rates were at 6.78% and for much of the year held in the low-to-mid-6% range. But borrowing costs have been on the rise lately. Inflation is a major driver of mortgage rates and amid continued...

Homeowners with a mortgage rate above this number are almost twice as likely to sell their home.A new survey from Zillow found the “mortgage rate tipping point” at which homeowners are likely to sell their homes. According to the survey, homeowners with a mortgage rate above 5% are almost twice as likely to say they plan on selling their home in the next three years than those paying a rate below 5%. As the Fed continues to raise the federal funds rate in an attempt to combat inflation, consumers are facing higher commercial interest rates, especially mortgage rates. As of...

What screams may come! Actually, the aftermath of excessive monetary policies under Bernanke, Yellen and Powell are coming home to bit the big banks. Interest expenses at big US banks are rising much more quickly than interest income. Across the six largest US banks, interest expenses are set to climb to roughly $78.7 billion from $15.5 billion in the same period last year. There is still $8.3 Trillion in monetary stimulus sloshing around the monetary system. The Fed played a game. And is still playing!!

Livin’ la vida Biden! The Biden Administration has got a line on you! Unfortunately that line is choking America’s middle class and low wages workers with inflation and rising interest rates. Auto loan rates are now up to 7.65%, a gut-wrenching 166% increase under Bidenomics. Average monthly payments also reached a new record of $733. That compares with $730 in the first quarter and $678 in the second quarter of 2022. Buyers were financed with an average APR of around 7.1%, the highest since the fourth quarter of 2007. 2 out of every 3 consumers who agreed to a $1,000+...

Japan's Nikkei share average rallied on Friday to the highest since August 1990, the country's so-called "bubble" era, driven by a confluence of positive factors from strong earnings to optimism over a U.S. debt ceiling deal. The benchmark index jumped as high as 30,924.57 shortly after the open, on course for a seventh straight winning session, after smashing through the psychological 30,000 level on Wednesday for the first time in 20 months. The broader Topix, which had reached the post-bubble milestone on Tuesday, extended its climb to as high as 2,171.37.

On Wednesday, March 8 of this year, the holding company for the federally-insured Silvergate Bank announced it was winding down the bank. It had little choice but to do so. It was experiencing a bank run and had incinerated its reputation by focusing on deposits from crypto companies, including those majority-owned by indicted crypto kingpin, Sam Bankman-Fried. According to testimony from the Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Martin Gruenberg, before the Senate Banking Committee on March 28, “in the fourth quarter of 2022, Silvergate Bank experienced an outflow of deposits from digital asset customers that, combined with...

The first-quarter dip never happened. Some observers say that’s a problem. Credit-card balances hit $986 billion in the fourth quarter, but remain largely unchanged in the first quarter of the year, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in its most recent quarterly report on household debt. It looks increasingly likely that credit-card debt is on track to hit the $1 trillion mark this year, and experts say that this number could be an indicator of a looming economic downturn.

Home sales plunged 21 percent in the United States during the month of April, as new prospective homeowners appear to be scared of being 'locked in' to higher mortgage rates. The number of new listings continued what appears to be a trend, as listings are down 31 percent from 2019. The 2019 figure was used as a benchmark as it happened before the pandemic. In April 2021, home listings were up 41.5 percent over 2019. Mortgage rates have gone over 6 percent since September of 2022, causing the once-booming housing market to finally settle.