Finance

The Latest on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting (all times local): 2:50 p.m. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledges that officials at the U.S. central bank are fractured about next steps on interest rates. Forecasts from the Fed show uncertainty about the course of rates after Wednesday’s rate cut. The uncertainty stems from President […]

The strike against General Motors by the United Auto Workers is playing out amid a corruption scandal inside the UAW that has caused distrust of the union leadership among many rank-and-file members. On picket lines at plants across the country, many of the 49,000 workers have expressed doubts about whether UAW leaders are acting in

Major U.S. stock indexes closed mostly higher Wednesday after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate for a second time this year, citing slowing global economic growth and uncertainty over U.S. trade conflicts. Gains in banks, utilities and technology companies outweighed losses elsewhere in the market, which had been broadly lower until the last

The Federal Reserve has cut its benchmark interest rate again, big news for the U.S. economy but something that will likely have a muted impact on Americans’ personal finances, experts say. That’s because the reduction doesn’t offset the increases of recent years. And as the key rate creeps closer to zero, financial institutions are less

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, its second move since late July, as it tries to insulate the United States economy against rising political risks and fallout from a global slowdown. A growing number of Fed officials expect one more cut this year, based

The Latest on the United Auto Workers union’s strike that has crippled U.S. production at General Motors (all times local): 1:30 p.m. The strike by 49,000 United Auto Workers against General Motors is starting to affect production in other countries. Company spokesman Dan Flores confirms that the 3-day-old strike has forced GM to place about

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve officials are expected to cut interest rates for a second time on Wednesday, a move that could prove divisive among Fed officials and aggravate President Trump’s anger toward the central bank. The Fed’s rate decision, which will be announced at 2 p.m. in Washington, will be accompanied by a fresh set

The price of oil fell again Wednesday after the Saudi government said half of the production knocked out by an attack over the weekend had already had been restored. Benchmark U.S. crude fell about $1 to $58.29 per barrel in early trading. Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 85 cents to $63.70 per barrel. The

SAN FRANCISCO — Open-air heroin use. Sidewalks smeared in human feces. Blocklong homeless camps and people with severe mental illnesses wading through traffic in socks and hospital clothes. You would be forgiven if you thought that those descriptions of California’s urban ills came from the mouth of the state’s biggest detractor, President Trump. After all,

The pace of U.S. home construction jumped 12.3% last month to a 12-year high on a surge in apartment building. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that housing starts came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.36 million, the most since June 2007 and up from a revised 1.22 million, as builders overcame a