Watching for Indications of a Changed Fed Outlook; Fine-Tuning a Strategy to Avoid Mass Layoffs By Hardika Singh
The Federal Reserve is expected to keep its benchmark interest-rate target at a range of 5.25% to 5.5%, a 23-year high, when its two-day meeting ends today. The focus will be on its latest interest rate and economic projections. Meanwhile, a medical technology firm questions every new hire and redeploys staff to keep head count steady. And U.S. housing construction ramps up after a January slowdown, while big changes are under way for how Realtors make money. Read on for this news and more.
Top News How Has the Fed's Outlook Changed? Here's What to Watch Today
Federal Reserve officials won't put recession risk front and center this week. Yet that risk is likely to drive its thinking over the remainder of the year , leaving it on track to cut rates at some point, Nick Timiraos writes.
ECB Could Cut Rates in June if Inflation Continues Easing
The European Central Bank will be able to lower its key interest rate in June if forthcoming data on inflation and wages comes in line with its projections, President Christine Lagarde said in a speech to economists and investors.
U.S. Economy Deeming Mass Layoffs a 'Failure of Leadership,' One Company Fine-Tunes a Strategy to Avoid Them
When the pandemic raged in 2020, medical technology firm Hologic developed two Covid tests that became revenue juggernauts. Annual sales rose about 50%, or nearly $2 billion. Since then, demand for those products has dried up, capping a boom-and-bust cycle that played out at a range of companies over the past four years. One thing never swung up or down at Hologic: the size of its full-time workforce.
Singh's Take Housing Construction Ramps Up After January Slowdown
A measure of U.S. home-building rose more than economists expected in February , signaling that January's declines may have just been a blip. Housing starts rose 10.7% in February to a seasonally adjusted rate for 1.52 million, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That's higher than economists' expectations of a gain of 7.4% to 1.43 million. The January starts were revised to a decline of 12.3% from a decline of 14.8%.
Financial Regulation Roundup Realtors Reckon With a Seismic Shift to How They Get Paid
More than a million people who broker home buying and selling in America are re-examining their careers. Last week, the National Association of Realtors settled legal claims that the real-estate industry conspired to keep commissions artificially high. The settlement will likely change how much of a home sale's price will find its way into an agent's hands.
Forward Guidance Wednesday (all times ET)
1:30 p.m.: Bank of Canada summary of monetary policy deliberations
2 p.m.: Federal Reserve interest rate decision and economic projections
2:30 p.m.: Fed's Powell holds post-meeting press conference
Thursday
4 a.m.: ECB General Council meeting
5 a.m.: Norges Bank interest rate decision
8:30 a.m.: U.S. weekly jobless claims
10 a.m.: U.S. existing-home sales for February
12 p.m.: Fed's Barr speaks at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Research U.S. Airline Employment Rose in January From Year Ago
Employment numbers for U.S. passenger and cargo airlines companies rose in January compared with the year-ago period, and stayed above the numbers reported in pre-pandemic January 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics says. Employment stood at 795,554 workers in January, 1,159 fewer than in December of last year and 45,215 more than in January 2020, the BTS says. Employment in the industry was 787,328 in January 2023. - Stephen Nakrosis
Basis Points U.K. services inflation, one of the key metrics watched by the Bank of England, is expected to slow even as labor-market demand remains tight, analysts at Nomura Research say in a note ahead of Wednesday's U.K. inflation data for February. "A lot of industries are not that heavily reliant on wage-financed inputs," Nomura says. - Miriam Mukuru The increase in mortgage rates in February has driven a modest downgrade to expectations for total home sales and mortgage originations in 2024, according to Fannie Mae. Fannie now expects the 30-year fixed mortgage rate to end the year at 6.4%, up from the 5.9% predicted last month. - Chris Wack Feedback Loop
This newsletter is compiled by Hardika Singh in New York.
Send us your tips, suggestions and feedback. Write to:
[hardika.singh@wsj.com]
This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-20-24 0721ET
