In recent times, the economic landscape has presented an array of challenges that have profoundly affected the business community. Some of the most significant challenges include soaring inflation rates, escalating interest rates, looming fears of a recession, and a tangible decrease in revenues for many sectors…
Tag: interest rates
MORTGAGE DEMAND RISES WITH NEW YEAR. SO DO MORTGAGE INTEREST RATES
The number of applications for mortgages to buy a home rose 6 percent during the first week of this year from the final week of December but remained 16 percent below the number a year earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported.
INFLATION KEEPS RISING
U.S. consumer prices grew by 3.4 percent in December, the Labor Department reported, surpassing November’s 3.1 percent and beating economists’ forecasts of 3.2 percent.
GOING OUT OF BUSINESS TRENDS
In recent times, the economic landscape has presented an array of challenges that have profoundly affected the business community. Some of the most significant challenges include soaring inflation rates, escalating interest rates, looming fears of a recession, and a tangible decrease in revenues for many sectors…
HOME CONSTRUCTION STARTS AND PERMITS JUMP IN NOVEMBER
In November, builders began work on new homes at a clip that translates to an annual rate of 1.6 million housing units and filed permits to construct 1.5 million more, news service Quartz reported.
U.S. VENTURE CAPITAL FUND-RAISING PLUMMETED 60 PERCENT IN 2023
Venture capitalists’ (VCs’) attempts to raise funds to invest in new and young companies brought in only $67 billion last year, the least since 2017 and 60 percent less than in 2022, which was a peak year, according to the National Venture Capital Association.
EMERGING NATIONS BUCKLING UNDER DEBT LOAD, WORLD BANK WARNS
The past year’s surge in interest rates has piled record amounts of debt onto poor nations, depriving them of money needed to invest in education, healthcare, infrastructure, and other essential building blocks they need to rise out of poverty, the World Bank said in a report last week.
FED HOLDS RATES STEADY, PROJECTS THREE CUTS IN 2024
At its mid-December meeting, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee not only froze interest rates at their current levels, but also said it expects to make three quarter-point rate cuts next year and drop rates by a full point in 2025.
CANADA’S CENTRAL BANK LEAVES INTEREST RATE UNCHANGED
For the third successive meeting of its governing council, the Bank of Canada (BoC) left its key interest rate at 5 percent, saying that neither the economy nor the labor market are running at too fast a pace.
JAPAN’S MARKETS JUMP ON INTEREST RATE RUMORS
Speculation that the Bank of Japan is about to scrap its policy of negative interest rates, which has held the central bank’s key rate at -.10 percent since 2016, roiled the country’s markets last week.