Economy

We're in a pivotal week for the economy. Here's what you need to know – CNN

Published

2 years ago

June 14, 2022

A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.

Washington (CNN)Prices in the US will ease, “come hell or high water.”

That was President Joe Biden’s message on Tuesday as the US — already in the throes of a turbulent economic year — braces for a pivotal week.

The combination of surging oil and gasoline prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, broader inflation worries resulting from continued supply-chain disruptions and fears about aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve have sent the market into a tailspin.

Put simply: “It’s a pretty bad storm,” Joann Weiner, an economics professor at George Washington University, told What Matters.

Here’s what you need to know about this week’s consequential Federal Reserve meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday and why it matters.

All eyes on Wednesday

To fight inflation, the US central bank is expected to increase its benchmark interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point, the biggest single hike since 1994.

This follows the Fed’s decision to raise its rate by half a percentage point in May, the biggest increase in 22 years.

CNN’s Matt Egan puts it this way: The fact that the Fed is decisively moving away from zero shows confidence in the health of the job market. But the speed with which interest rates are expected to go up underscores its growing concern about the soaring cost of living.

Investors are expecting the Fed to raise its target range near 4% by the end of the year, up from about 1% today. For context, as Egan notes, rates got as high as 5.25% before the Great Recession.

But what does this mean for consumers? More from Egan: Every time the Fed raises rates, it becomes more expensive to borrow. That means higher interest costs for mortgages, home equity lines of credit, credit cards, student debt and car loans. Business loans will also get pricier, for businesses large and small.

Americans will initially experience this policy shift through higher borrowing costs: It is no longer insanely cheap to take out mortgages or car loans. And cash sitting in bank accounts will finally earn something, albeit not much.

The risk? The central bank overdoes it, slowing the economy so much that it accidentally sparks a recession that drives unemployment higher.

Why such aggressive rate hikes?

To borrow an old phrase, drastic times call for drastic measures.

If it feels like your paycheck is depleting more quickly than it used to, you’re not alone. Americans everywhere are feeling the effects of inflation … everywhere.

The typical US household is spending about $460 more every month than it did last year to purchase the same basket of goods and services, said Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody’s Analytics. And for the first time ever, a gallon of regular gas now costs $5 on average nationwide, according to AAA’s Saturday reading.

The latest Consumer Price Index, the government’s basic inflation measure, doesn’t offer comfort elsewhere: Prices for food purchased to eat at home rose 11.9% over the past 12 months; the shelter index, which measures rents and other housing costs, posted a 5.5% increase; and used car prices lifted 16.1%.

There was, however, a sliver of good news in the Producer Price Index, which measures wholesale prices before goods and services reach consumers.

That index rose 10.8% in May compared with where it stood a year ago, according to data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While that’s still quite high by historical standards, it’s down from the revised 10.9% rise reported in April’s reading.

The politics of economics

Fact-checking Biden's claim that Putin shares blame for inflation

JUST WATCHED

Fact-checking Biden’s claim that Putin shares blame for inflation

Replay

MUST WATCH

Fact-checking Biden’s claim that Putin shares blame for inflation 02:33

The Fed’s ability to tame inflation carries enormous consequences in Washington. If the upcoming midterm elections become a referendum on the economy, for example, Democrats have a big problem on their hands.

You don’t have to look further than the S&P 500, one of the broadest measures of the US stock market. The index has now lost all of its gains since Biden was inaugurated early last year.

The President and Democrats in Congress, of course, recognize the threat that a flailing economy poses to their midterm aspirations, along with the liability it could carry into 2024. And it’s hard to not look at recent decisions from the White House through that lens.

For example, Biden will visit Saudi Arabia next month, where he is expected to engage in some capacity with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — something he once campaigned against.

Speaking to reporters over the weekend, the President insisted the trip was not tied to global energy prices, though his advisers have said openly that the need to increase oil production in order to stabilize prices is a key driver of the Saudi reset.

The good news for the White House is that economies aren’t always a strong indicator of political prospects:

Bad economies don’t always hamper reelection. As CNN’s Paul R. La Monica writes: The market plunged 16.5% in the first 510 days of Ronald Reagan’s presidency, which was also a period of historically high inflation. Stocks were down 25% in the early part of George W. Bush’s presidency, as the market was in the midst of the dot-com meltdown and struggled to recover in the aftermath of 9/11. But both Reagan and George W. Bush wound up being reelected.

Good economies don’t always secure reelection. Meanwhile, stocks soared more than 20% early in both George H.W. Bush’s and Donald Trump’s tenures in the Oval Office. Neither was elected to a second term.

“The bottom line is this: I truly believe we made extraordinary progress by laying a new foundation for our economy,” Biden maintained Tuesday, “which becomes clear once global inflation begins to recede.”

What if the Fed doesn’t succeed?

The President has repeatedly stressed the importance of letting the Fed do its work independently, and he’s put his faith in its ability to tackle inflation.

But what happens if the Fed crash-lands the economy into a recession?

“From a 30,000-foot level, if you’re looking at it from down on high, I expect a recession — if we have one — would be six months, nine months, something like that,” Zandi told CNN this week. “Unemployment would rise from 3.6% to 5.5%, 6%, something like that. Not good, but you know, in the grand scheme of things, kind of more typical, comparable to other recessions we’ve experienced in the past.”

Indeed, a growing chorus of analysts believe the Fed acted too late on inflation to engineer a soft landing. But there have been rare instances when the central bank has cooled off the economy and kept prices in check without sending the US economy spiraling into a downturn: once in 1965, and again in 1984 and 1994.

The good news, Weiner says, is the Fed has gotten better at signaling its intentions: “As long as the Fed does what’s expected, things don’t go haywire.”

CNN’s Chris Isidore and David Goldman contributed to this report.

Adblock test (Why?)

Source link

Economy

Canada’s unemployment rate holds steady at 6.5% in October, economy adds 15,000 jobs

Published

4 days ago

November 8, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 per cent last month as hiring remained weak across the economy.

Statistics Canada’s labour force survey on Friday said employment rose by a modest 15,000 jobs in October.

Business, building and support services saw the largest gain in employment.

Meanwhile, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the largest decline.

Many economists see weakness in the job market continuing in the short term, before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts spark a rebound in economic growth next year.

Despite ongoing softness in the labour market, however, strong wage growth has raged on in Canada. Average hourly wages in October grew 4.9 per cent from a year ago, reaching $35.76.

Friday’s report also shed some light on the financial health of households.

According to the agency, 28.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 or older were living in a household that had difficulty meeting financial needs – like food and housing – in the previous four weeks.

That was down from 33.1 per cent in October 2023 and 35.5 per cent in October 2022, but still above the 20.4 per cent figure recorded in October 2020.

People living in a rented home were more likely to report difficulty meeting financial needs, with nearly four in 10 reporting that was the case.

That compares with just under a quarter of those living in an owned home by a household member.

Immigrants were also more likely to report facing financial strain last month, with about four out of 10 immigrants who landed in the last year doing so.

That compares with about three in 10 more established immigrants and one in four of people born in Canada.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

Source link

Economy

Health-care spending expected to outpace economy and reach $372 billion in 2024: CIHI

Published

6 days ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.

The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.

CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.

This year’s health spending is estimated to represent 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Excluding two years of the pandemic, it would be the highest ratio in the country’s history.

While it’s not unusual for health expenditures to outpace economic growth, the report says this could be the case for the next several years due to Canada’s growing population and its aging demographic.

Canada’s per capita spending on health care in 2022 was among the highest in the world, but still less than countries such as the United States and Sweden.

The report notes that the Canadian dental and pharmacare plans could push health-care spending even further as more people who previously couldn’t afford these services start using them.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

Source link

Economy

Trump’s victory sparks concerns over ripple effect on Canadian economy

Published

6 days ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

As Canadians wake up to news that Donald Trump will return to the White House, the president-elect’s protectionist stance is casting a spotlight on what effect his second term will have on Canada-U.S. economic ties.

Some Canadian business leaders have expressed worry over Trump’s promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.

A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.

More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.

Canada’s manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the “most trade-exposed” within Canada.

“It’s in the U.S.’s best interest, it’s in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we’re able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements,” Darby said in an interview.

“It’s a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we’ve had to deal with this before and we’re going to do our best to deal with it again.”

American economists have also warned Trump’s plan could cause inflation and possibly a recession, which could have ripple effects in Canada.

It’s consumers who will ultimately feel the burden of any inflationary effect caused by broad tariffs, said Darby.

“A tariff tends to raise costs, and it ultimately raises prices, so that’s something that we have to be prepared for,” he said.

“It could tilt production mandates. A tariff makes goods more expensive, but on the same token, it also will make inputs for the U.S. more expensive.”

A report last month by TD economist Marc Ercolao said research shows a full-scale implementation of Trump’s tariff plan could lead to a near-five per cent reduction in Canadian export volumes to the U.S. by early-2027, relative to current baseline forecasts.

Retaliation by Canada would also increase costs for domestic producers, and push import volumes lower in the process.

“Slowing import activity mitigates some of the negative net trade impact on total GDP enough to avoid a technical recession, but still produces a period of extended stagnation through 2025 and 2026,” Ercolao said.

Since the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement came into effect in 2020, trade between Canada and the U.S. has surged by 46 per cent, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.

With that deal is up for review in 2026, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said the Canadian government “must collaborate effectively with the Trump administration to preserve and strengthen our bilateral economic partnership.”

“With an impressive $3.6 billion in daily trade, Canada and the United States are each other’s closest international partners. The secure and efficient flow of goods and people across our border … remains essential for the economies of both countries,” she said in a statement.

“By resisting tariffs and trade barriers that will only raise prices and hurt consumers in both countries, Canada and the United States can strengthen resilient cross-border supply chains that enhance our shared economic security.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

Source link