Macroeconomic data, trends, and policy developments.
Coverage of key economic indicators, central bank policy decisions, inflation trends, labor data, and growth signals. This category focuses on the macroeconomic forces that shape markets, interest rates, and long-term capital allocation.
2,662 total articles
Japan’s core consumer inflation slowed to 1.6% in February, falling under the Bank of Japan’s 2% target for the first time since March 2022. Government interventions to curb fuel costs and surging crude prices linked to the Middle East conflict are creating opposing pressures on prices, complicating the BOJ’s roadmap for further rate increases.
Roughly $580 million worth of Brent and West Texas Intermediate futures contracts were traded in the oil market about 15 minutes before a Truth Social post by President Donald Trump that referenced productive talks with Iran, a Financial Times report found. The trades occurred between 6:49 a.m. and 6:50 a.m. New York time and coincided with a spike…
The U.S. administration is quietly assessing Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the 64-year-old speaker of Iran's parliament, as a potential partner to shepherd Tehran toward negotiated diplomacy and an end to the current military escalation. Some U.S. officials view him as a workable figure despite prior threats he has made against the United States. The o…
Senior U.S. officials traveled to Kyiv for a meeting of the U.S.-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund where both sides aim to advance the fund's first investment project. The fund, created under an April minerals agreement and operational since December, targets critical minerals and strategic sectors and is projected to reach $200 million by yea…
U.S. equities advanced and oil prices dropped sharply on March 23 after President Donald Trump postponed planned strikes on Iran’s power plants and signaled that early talks with Tehran had occurred. The market reaction reflected a renewed appetite for risk, even as questions remain about the longer-term impact on energy infrastructure and inflatio…
The jump in international oil and gas prices following the outbreak of war in Iran has enabled the Russian government to delay a planned reduction in the oil cut-off price that channels revenues into the National Wealth Fund. Three sources familiar with the discussions said the postponement eases immediate fiscal stress and is likely to push legisl…
New Zealand's central bank governor said monetary policy should look through a temporary spike in energy costs stemming from the Middle East conflict, but cautioned that if those costs feed into medium-term inflation or inflation expectations the Reserve Bank could raise interest rates. The RBNZ has held the official cash rate at 2.25% since Novemb…
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly said Monday that when uncertainty is high, framing risks as scenarios is more useful than fixating on a single economic forecast. She outlined one path in which a swift resolution to the Middle East conflict eases energy costs and leaves the U.S. economy largely unscathed, and an alternative…
Approximately 2,200 Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit are set to arrive in the U.S. Central Command area on Friday when the Japan-based USS Tripoli and the amphibious landing dock USS New Orleans transit into the region, U.S. officials said. Officials indicated it will take several days for the unit to reach the Strait of Hormuz. The …
Sam Altman has resigned from the board of Helion Energy, the fusion company he backed beginning in 2015, after concluding that serving on both Helion's board and OpenAI's leadership was no longer tenable. Altman will retain a financial interest in Helion but has pledged to abstain from any negotiations. Helion's CEO praised Altman's past contributi…
Multiple newly created accounts on the Polymarket platform made sizable wagers totalling about $160,000 on a U.S.-Iran cease-fire occurring by March 31 or April 15. Those positions gained significant unrealized value after President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that the U.S. and Iran had productive conversations about resolving the war, and …
Senior U.S. military officials are considering deploying a combat brigade from the 82nd Airborne Division and parts of its headquarters staff to support operations related to Iran. No orders have been issued and U.S. Central Command has declined to comment. Options under review include moving the 82nd Airborne Immediate Response Force or using the …
Heightened market uncertainty linked to the Iran conflict has driven a risk-off stance among investors, producing acute short-term volatility in gold. Inflation concerns tied to higher energy prices, reduced expectations for near-term interest rate cuts, and liquidity-driven selling have outweighed safe-haven demand, pushing spot gold well below it…
President Donald Trump called on Republican senators to remain in Washington over the Easter recess to advance a voter identification bill he said should be part of any Homeland Security funding deal. The department has been partly unfunded since Feb. 13, leaving thousands of TSA employees unpaid for weeks. The proposed legislation would require pr…
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf publicly denied that any negotiations have occurred with the United States, describing reports of talks as "fake news" intended to influence financial and oil markets. The statement followed comments by President Trump that his envoys had met a senior Iranian official and that the discussions produ…
A coalition of historic preservation and architectural organizations filed a federal lawsuit against President Donald Trump and the Kennedy Center’s board, arguing that a sweeping renovation of the Washington performing arts complex proceeded without congressional authorization and avoided mandatory federal review processes. The suit contends the p…
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said additional withdrawals from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) remain an option to stabilize markets amid the war with Iran, but described such a move as "highly unlikely." The administration recently carried out a coordinated 172 million barrel exchange with International Energy Agency partners and is exp…
The Kremlin said it is closely tracking a range of conflicting statements about developments in Iran and expressed a desire for the situation to be resolved peacefully and quickly. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted officials have observed many differing accounts, some of which contradict one another. The remarks coincided with U.S. President Do…
Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran said it is too soon to determine how the recent spike in oil prices will affect the U.S. economy over the 12-month horizon that matters for monetary policy. He maintained his stance that softer job market conditions justify additional rate cuts, noting he dissented at the Fed's recent meeting and now expects f…
Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran said policymakers should refrain from altering monetary policy in response to near-term disruptions tied to the conflict involving the US and Israel in Iran. While acknowledging that higher oil prices raise inflationary risks and weigh on growth and the labor market, Miran said his pre-conflict forecast of fou…
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee warned that the central bank's next steps on interest rates could go in either direction depending on how the war in the Middle East influences inflation and the broader economy. He said the Fed might resume multiple rate cuts this year if inflation moderates, but also signaled the possibili…
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said inflation currently represents the greater risk to the U.S. economy as unemployment holds relatively steady. He warned that rising gasoline prices risk embedding higher inflation expectations and described the current moment as intense. Goolsbee added that a swift end to the Iran conflict could still creat…
Senior officials from Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan conveyed messages between the United States and Iran over a two-day period, sources cited by Axios reporter Barak Ravid on X said. Separate meetings involved White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. President Donald Trump announced he had ordered a delay in planned…
European natural gas futures declined sharply on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had ordered a five-day postponement of strikes on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure following what he described as "productive" talks. The benchmark Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub fell by as much as 5.52 euros, according to Inte…
Iranian officials told state-linked news agencies that the Strait of Hormuz will not revert to pre-conflict conditions and that energy markets will continue to be unsettled. The reports also say there are no ongoing negotiations with the United States, and include claims that U.S. President Donald Trump stepped back from striking Iranian infrastruc…
