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The big question for market participants is whether a 50-basis-point rate cut would mean a recessionary environment `is more probable than the Fed is comfortable with,’ one portfolio manager says.
Last Updated: Sept. 18, 2024 at 6:10 p.m. ET First Published: Sept. 8, 2024 at 12:01 p.m. ET
Wednesday’s consumer-price index is seen as likely to play a key role in whether the Federal Reserve ends up cutting interest rates by either 25 or 50 basis points in less than two weeks. Photo: MarketWatch photo illustration/iStockphoto, Getty Images
In 2012 politicians in Britain burned lots of political capital by raising the cap on how much English universities can charge domestic undergraduates in tuition fees. Sir Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister at the time, had previously pledged not to raise fees and never lived down the U-turn. This political folk memory helps explain why the Labour Party, which took power in July and has campaigned in the past to abolish tuition fees, will find it difficult to raise the cap again. That is nonetheless what it should do.
For corporate America, this week’s expected interest rate cut carries risks along with rewards.
The Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates this week, by either a quarter or a half a percentage point.Credit…Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
Rob Copeland covers banking and Wall Street from New York, Joe Rennison writes about markets from New York and Jeanna Smialek reports on the Federal Reserve in Washington.
Big Rate Cut Forces Fed to Contend With New Obstacles
How big will the next cut be? And what is the right interest rate anyway? One thing is clear: Fed Chair Jerome Powell really wants to stick the landing.
Traders are increasing bets that the Federal Reserve, chaired by Jerome Powell, could cut interest rates by half a percentage point next week REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Google won a court fight with the European Union over a €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) fine for thwarting competition for online ads, partly atoning for last week’s crushing defeat in a separate judgment for abusing its monopoly powers.
