Tag Archive for: FED

U.S. economy looks good but Fed remains cautious: Dudley

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U.S. economic conditions are “mostly favorable” yet the Federal Reserve remains cautious in raising interest rates because threats loom, New York Fed President William Dudley said on Monday.

Dudley, a permanent voter on rates and a close ally of Fed Chair Janet Yellen, repeated his views in a speech, saying “policy adjustments are likely to be gradual and cautious, as we continue to face significant uncertainties and the headwinds to growth from the financial crisis have not fully abated.”

Addressing a conference at the New York Fed, he repeated he was confident that too-low inflation would rise to a 2 percent goal over the next few years, and that “economic conditions have finally warranted the start of U.S. monetary policy normalization.”

The Fed raised rates modestly from near zero in December, its first policy tightening in nearly a decade. Most economists predict it will move again in June.

 

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Copyright: Reuters

Stocks end mixed as investors eye Fed rate call

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Wall Street, which is riding a four-week winning streak, kicked off a busy week quietly Monday as it awaited a slew of earnings releases, fresh data on the economy and a Federal Reserve meeting on interest rates.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index, which gained 2.1% last week on the heels of a interest rate by the Bank of China and hints of more stimulus ahead from the European Central Bank, closed down 0.2%.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 0.1% and the Nasdaq composite inched up less than 0.1%.

This week, traders will digest earnings reports from 169 companies in the S&P 500, according to earnings-tracker Thomson Reuters. The third-quarter earnings picture, so far, has been better than expected.

Seven out of 10 companies have topped profit forecasts, and while earnings are still expected to contract 2.8% this quarter for the first time since 2009, that’s better than the projections of earnings falling more than 4% at the start of the earnings season.

Today’s earnings releases are expected from 10 companies in the S&P 500. Well-known companies such as Xerox (XRX)and Broadcom (BRCM) report.

But the major market-moving earnings reports don’t kick in until Tuesday, when iPhone maker Apple (AAPL), automaker Ford (F), drug makers Merck (MRK) and Pfizer (PFE) and package delivery giant UPS (UPS) report.

Heading into the week, the S&P 500 was up 0.8% for the year but still down 2.6% from its May 21 record close of 2130.82.

economyCopyright: USA Today