At its meeting last week, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) held its key interest rate at -0.1 percent, made no changes to its program of bond purchases, and continued to cap the yield on 10-year bonds at zero percent, as predicted by 49 economists Bloomberg had polled.
The European Central Bank (ECB) raised two key interest rates three-quarters of a point last week, the second such raise in the ECB policy committee’s last two meetings.
Germany’s economy expanded by a scant 0.3 percent during this year’s third quarter, besting both France and Spain, which each eked out a 0.2-percent expansion.
Thanks to the energy crisis sparked by Russia’s war in Ukraine and resulting Western sanctions, at least half of the 19 countries sharing the euro currency will enter a recession, Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said in a 27 October Euronews interview.
Inflation and interest rate hikes are causing companies in many sectors to lay off employees. To illustrate the employment trends and the socioeconomic implications, each week we will list job losses.
Third-quarter demand for U.S. apartments sank to a 13-year low after rental rates rose 25 percent over the past two years, according to rental website Apartment List.
The number of corporations with bonded debt regarded as “distressed”—a sign that the companies are moving toward default—is the largest since September 2020.
During the first six months of this year, Americans spent lavishly on imports, while U.S. exports remained modest.
Adjusted for inflation, the U.S. GDP grew 2.6 percent in this year’s third quarter, after shrinking during the year’s first half.
In September, the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index—the U.S. Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of inflation—rose at 6.2 percent, year on year.