Author: News Room

The recent stress in the banking sector could reduce the ability of U.S. banks to lend over the next year, and materially lower U.S. economic growth, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday. The IMF estimated said that lending capacity in the U.S. could fall by almost 1% in the coming year.  That would reduce U.S. real gross domestic product by 44 basis points over that time frame, all else being equal, the IMF said.  The U.S. economy was only expected to grow marginally even before the bank sector stress of mid-March. According to the latest estimate from the Federal Reserve,…

Let me state for the record that I really like my dog, an 12-year-old cutie named Lulu. She plays a good game of fetch. She forces me to get a little more exercise with her constant need for walks. She has also mastered house-training (well, almost, but let’s not get into the details). But would I plan a big celebration for her on National Pet Day, which happens to be today? Not on your freaking life. Lately it seems there are no limits to what we do for our four-legged friends. Some of us buy them a Louis Vuitton MC,…

Inflation data for March will offer the clearest signal yet as to whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in May for a tenth consecutive time in this cycle. The key to decoding the latest consumer-price-index report, due Wednesday: Look beyond the headline numbers. Economists expect inflation rose 0.3% in March to reach a 5.2% annual pace. That would mark a sizable deceleration from the 6% annual rate notched in February. But while a slowdown of that magnitude would look like progress, much of it will be due to a decline in energy-services prices as the cost of natural…

Whirlpool was rising Tuesday after a Goldman Sachs analyst upgraded shares of the home appliance company on confidence in near-term initiatives that could drive revenue and margin expansion. Goldman Sachs analyst Susan Maklari upgraded shares of Whirlpool (ticker: WHR) to Buy from Neutral on Tuesday. “Over the last six months, Whirlpool has announced a number of initiatives aligned with achieving longer-term revenue, margin, cash flow, and returntargets,” Maklari wrote in a research note. These initiatives include cutting costs by $500 million as supply-chain issues mitigate, and the $3 billion acquisition of Emerson Electric‘s (EMR) InSinkErator business in the fourth quarter.…

Donald Trump’s close presidential aide and speechwriter Stephen Miller returned to testify to a federal grand jury in Washington on Tuesday after the courts ordered that he and other top advisers must share their recollections of direct conversations with the then-president related to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Miller is likely to be asked in the grand jury about his phone call with Trump minutes before the Ellipse rally that day, and other conversations they had about the election. The grand jury is hearing evidence as part of a special counsel’s criminal investigation. Miller’s appearance at the federal courthouse…

Russia and Ukraine have tightened their conscription rules ahead of a widely expected Ukrainian counter-offensive in the coming weeks.In Moscow, the parliament rushed through legislation on Tuesday, making it significantly more difficult for Russians to dodge the draft and automatically banning registered conscripts from leaving the country. In Ukraine, where men aged 18 to 60 have been banned from leaving the country since Russia launched its full-scale invasion last year, the government on Tuesday approved new rules allowing recruitment centres to send summonses anywhere in the country. Previously, summonses could only be handed to men at their registered addresses, but tracking…

U.S. tech stocks have rallied more than 20% this year. But investor enthusiasm may be put to the test if the upcoming earnings season proves to be gloomy. Greg Bonnell speaks with Jim Kelleher, Director of Research at Argus Research about the outlook for the tech sector. Greg Bonnell: While many investors have been focused on rising rates and the risk of a recession, the first three months of this year saw the tech-heavy NASDAQ index notch its best quarter since 2020. So what’s driving this recent performance, and where might it head from here? Here to discuss, Jim Kelleher,…

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Dogecoin (DOGE), the cryptocurrency that powers the decentralized, payments-focused, dog meme-inspired Dogecoin blockchain, was last up around 3% in the last 24 hours, as per data from CoinGecko.DOGE was last changing hands around $0.085, up around 5.5% from last week’s lows in the $0.08 area, with the cryptocurrency having seen a solid bounce from its 100 and 200-Day Moving Averages, both of which are currently around $0.081.Dogecoin is rallying in tandem with a Bitcoin-led move higher in broader cryptocurrency prices, which comes ahead of a very busy week on the US macro front.Analysts and traders will be monitoring the release…

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she believes the American economy remains strong and its banking system is resilient despite some recent turmoil among regional financial institutions. “I’ve not really seen evidence at this stage suggesting a contraction in credit, although that is a possibility,” Yellen said at a press conference Tuesday ahead of the spring World Bank meetings. “I believe our banking system remains strong and resilient; it has solid capital and liquidity.” She added that the “US economy is obviously performing exceptionally well,” noting solid job creation, moderating inflation and robust consumer spending. “So I’m not anticipating a…