Finance

The series of economic and financial developments on Friday was a strange, bewildering, exhausting microcosm of why the global economy is at risk of a meltdown. It showed the odd interplay at work between the Chinese government’s actions in the escalating trade war with the United States, the sober-minded global central bankers who have limited […]

The Latest on the gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming (all times local): 11 a.m. Reacting to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, President Donald Trump, who has relentlessly attacked Powell and the Fed for its rate policies, kept up his verbal assaults on Twitter: “As usual, the Fed

Sales of new U.S. homes fell a steep 12.8% in July, but the drop came after revisions to June sales showed the sales highest growth in 12 years. The Commerce Department said Friday that new homes sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 635,000 units. That’s down from a sharply revised upward rate of

Karen Herzog, a retired high school teacher, bought a long-term care insurance policy 12 years ago because she didn’t want to burden her only daughter if someday she could no longer care for herself. Then a letter arrived in May that complicated her well-laid plan. Her monthly costs would double within two years, reaching nearly

President Donald Trump on Friday called on U.S. companies with operations in China to consider an alternative place to do business after Beijing announced a series of retaliatory tariffs Friday. “I will be responding to China’s Tariffs this afternoon,” Trump tweeted. “This is a GREAT opportunity for the United States.” U.S. markets tumbled, as did

The Latest on the gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming (all times local): 5:15 p.m. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida says he was too busy at the central bankers’ conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to read President Donald Trump’s tweets, including the one in which Trump says he can’t decide “who is

The Latest on the gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming (all times local): 12 noon. Some economists saw Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech in Jackson Hole as setting the stage for further interest rate cuts this year. A quarter-point rate cut reduction in September is considered all but certain. Some think the

Stocks fell sharply on Wall Street Friday after President Donald Trump called on U.S. companies to consider alternatives to doing business in China. He also said he would respond to Beijing’s latest tariff increase. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank more than 400 points after the president made the announcements on Twitter. Trump also said

The Latest on the escalating trade war between the U.S. and China, the world’s two largest economies (all times local): 11:30 a.m President Donald Trump in a series of tweets is ordering all U.S. companies with operations in China to begin looking for alternatives in response to retaliatory tariffs from Beijing. Trump on Friday said

Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, kept future interest rate cuts squarely on the table on Friday while stressing that the central bank’s powers to right the economy were limited by President Trump’s trade policies, which continue to pose risks to the economic outlook. “While monetary policy is a powerful tool that works to