1 week ago Jobless youngsters face having benefits STOPPED if they don’t take up new government offer of paid work

JOBLESS youngsters face having benefits stopped if they do not take up a new government offer of paid work. Rachel Reeves wants to cut the welfare bill with a Youth Guarantee scheme to stop them going onto a life on the dole. Every young adult who has been on Universal Credit for 18 months without...

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2 w. ago Asian shares mostly slip after Wall Street rally takes a pause

Asian shares are mostly declining, following a drop on Wall Street, as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that stock prices were “fairly highly valued.”

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2 w. ago Fed’s Powell signals further US interest rate cuts are not guaranteed

Central bank faces ‘challenging situation’ as it weighs inflation risks while jobs market softens

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2 w. ago Why Trump’s attacks on the Fed’s independence are so dangerous | Steven Greenhouse

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates this week. But the aggressive action Trump seeks could dramatically backfireDonald Trump has once again taken a wrecking ball to the rule of law and long-standing norms as he seeks to fire Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve governor, and pursue his unprecedented assault on the central bank’s independence. Just as he failed to understand the huge problems his tariffs would create, Trump fails to understand the serious damage his attacks on the Federal Reserve could cause.In April, Trump launched repeated attacks on the Fed, threatening to fire its chairman, Jerome Powell, and demanding it slash interest rates. Trump called Powell “a stupid guy” and said “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!” Trump ultimately chickened out on firing Powell after financial markets tumbled at the prospect, but he hasn’t stopped pressing the Fed to chop its rates – suggesting they should be below 1% – to spur the slowing economy. Although Trump keeps denying it...

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2 w. ago The Federal Reserve’s independence is about to be tested like never before

Donald Trump wants drastic rate cuts – and his campaign to exert greater political control over the Fed continues apaceThe time has come to ban the “revolving door” between the White House and the Federal Reserve, two academics argued last year. Doing so would be “critical to reducing the incentives for officials to act in the short-term political interests of the president”, they wrote.Eight months ago, the two writers – Dan Katz and Stephen Miran – joined the Trump administration in senior roles. On Tuesday, Miran, the chair of the US Council of Economic Advisers, walked into the Fed as a governor. Continue reading...

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3 w. ago Federal Reserve cuts US interest rates for first time since December

Central bank moves to set rates at range between 4 and 4.25% but decision unlikely to satisfy Donald TrumpThe US Federal Reserve cut interest rates on Wednesday, its first rate cut since December, as the central bank moved to stabilize a wobbling labor market even as Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to push up prices.Rates are now at a range of 4% to 4.25% – the lowest since November 2022. But the decision is unlikely to satisfy Trump, who has lambasted the Fed for acting “too late” and called for a far bigger cut. Continue reading...

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3 w. ago Federal Reserve cuts interest rates for first time in nearly a year, from 4.25% to 4% – live updates

Quarter point reduction comes amid concern of political pressure on the independent central bank from the Trump administrationIn economic projections released after the Fed’s rate-cute decision, members of the Fed’s board submitted their economic predictions for the economy over the next few years.A slight majority of board members seem to expect another rate cut by the end of the year, while a majority see more rate cuts in 2026. Board members are predicting a slight increase in unemployment, though they seem to think that inflation will largely cool in 2026 and 2027. Continue reading...

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3 w. ago Jerome Powell finally does it: Federal Reserve cuts interest rates a quarter of a percent

The rate cut comes as Trump stages an unprecedented assault on independence of the Federal Reserve

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3 w. ago The Federal Reserve wrestles with how many interest rate cuts to make and how fast

With the Federal Reserve widely expected to reduce its key interest rate by a quarter-point to about 4.1%, economists and Wall Street investors will be looking Wednesday for signs of how deeply the Fed might cut rates in the next few months

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