Economy

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.

Articles

907 total articles

Doha Meeting Signals Three Directions for AI Development

Doha Meeting Signals Three Directions for AI Development

More than 30,000 attendees at Web Summit in Doha converged on three recurring themes for artificial intelligence: its capacity to amplify small teams and startups, a pivot toward specialized, domain-specific AI solutions rather than commoditized large language models, and an emphasis on regional compute resilience and energy-backed data center stra…

Electric vehicles replace fuel-powered classics as Cuban fuel supply tightens

Electric vehicles replace fuel-powered classics as Cuban fuel supply tightens

Havana's familiar chorus of vintage gasoline cars is giving way to electric vehicles as Cuba confronts a severe fuel shortfall following tightened U.S. measures that halted Venezuelan oil shipments and warned other suppliers. Residents and state services increasingly rely on electric tricycles and rickshaw-style vehicles to keep neighborhoods mobil…

U.S. Regulators Take Step Toward Rewriting Capital Rules for Big Banks

U.S. Regulators Take Step Toward Rewriting Capital Rules for Big Banks

Two U.S. banking regulators have submitted rule drafts to the Office of Management and Budget that signal movement toward a fresh set of global-style capital rules for large banks. The filings, posted to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs website, offer no technical details or timetable; the Federal Reserve has not posted a correspond…

Administration Unveils $38.3 Billion Overhaul of U.S. Immigration Detention System

Administration Unveils $38.3 Billion Overhaul of U.S. Immigration Detention System

The federal government has proposed a $38.3 billion Detention Reengineering Initiative (DRI) to expand and consolidate the U.S. immigration detention network. The plan would add more than 92,000 beds through acquisition, renovation and repurposing of facilities, create new regional processing centers and large-scale detention sites, and is slated f…

Supreme Court Sets Feb. 20 Opinion Day in High-Stakes Tariff Case

Supreme Court Sets Feb. 20 Opinion Day in High-Stakes Tariff Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has scheduled February 20 as an opinion day that will likely include a decision on President Trump's tariff policies. Additional opinion sessions are scheduled for February 24 and 25. The case, heard on an expedited timeline, could invalidate major tariffs that federal data show are costing importers more than $16 billion eac…

BNY Clients Step Up Dollar Hedging to Highest Level Since Late 2023

BNY Clients Step Up Dollar Hedging to Highest Level Since Late 2023

Clients of a major global custodian have increased their hedging of U.S. dollar exposure to levels not seen since late 2023, taking currency protection roughly 20% greater than the notional need implied by their U.S. assets. The trend reflects heightened investor caution toward the dollar in early 2026 and aligns with expectations around central ba…

Canada’s bank regulator says capital requirements sit in a ‘Goldilocks zone’

Canada’s bank regulator says capital requirements sit in a ‘Goldilocks zone’

Canada’s Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) defends the country’s bank capital framework as appropriately calibrated, saying requirements achieve a “Goldilocks zone” that preserves financial stability while allowing lenders to support credit. A technical report benchmarking six systemically important Canadian banks agains…

WTO Director-General Backs Call for Overhaul of Global Trade Rules

WTO Director-General Backs Call for Overhaul of Global Trade Rules

World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said she agrees with U.S. calls to reform the global trading system, noting the system's resilience but lack of robustness. Her comments come ahead of a major WTO meeting in Cameroon next month and follow U.S. tariffs imposed by executive order last year that are awaiting a U.S. Supreme …

U.S. Inflation Cools Slightly in January, Keeping Rate-Cut Path Intact

U.S. Inflation Cools Slightly in January, Keeping Rate-Cut Path Intact

U.S. consumer prices rose modestly in January, with the Consumer Price Index increasing 0.2% from December and 2.4% from a year earlier, slightly under economists' expectations. The delayed release did not change the view among many market participants that the Federal Reserve remains positioned to lower interest rates later this year, though under…

BoE’s Chief Economist Says Policy Tightness Increasingly Hard to Measure

BoE’s Chief Economist Says Policy Tightness Increasingly Hard to Measure

Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill told a Santander Bank event in London that it is becoming harder to gauge how much monetary policy is suppressing demand. While he described the disinflation process as intact but incomplete, Pill said wage settlements remain elevated and that underlying inflation would be about 2.5% after removing a half pe…

U.S. Futures Trim Losses After January CPI Comes In Slightly Cooler Than Expected

U.S. Futures Trim Losses After January CPI Comes In Slightly Cooler Than Expected

U.S. stock index futures pared earlier losses after the Labor Department reported January Consumer Price Index readings that were marginally softer than economists had forecast. Headline CPI rose 2.4% year-over-year and 0.2% month-on-month; core CPI, which excludes food and energy, matched the annual estimate at 2.5% and was 0.3% on a monthly basis…

January CPI Rises Less Than Forecast as Core Prices Firm, Complicating Fed Outlook

January CPI Rises Less Than Forecast as Core Prices Firm, Complicating Fed Outlook

U.S. consumer prices rose 0.2% in January, below expectations, while core inflation - which excludes food and energy - accelerated to 0.3%. Annual CPI slowed to 2.4% from 2.7% as last year’s higher readings dropped out. Adjustments to seasonal factors and government shutdown-related data gaps influenced the release, and officials will weigh a firme…

Morgan Stanley Ups U.S. 2026 GDP Outlook as Hyperscaler Spending Boosts Capex

Morgan Stanley Ups U.S. 2026 GDP Outlook as Hyperscaler Spending Boosts Capex

Morgan Stanley raised its forecast for U.S. real GDP in 2026 to 2.6% from 2.4%, citing stronger capital expenditures driven by hyperscaler spending. The bank's revisions lift nonresidential business fixed investment and equipment spending projections, tilt the outlook toward an 'animal spirits' upside scenario, and highlight new downside risks tied…

Hedge funds ramp up short positions on Hims & Hers ahead of Wegovy dispute

Hedge funds ramp up short positions on Hims & Hers ahead of Wegovy dispute

Hedge funds increased short bets against Hims & Hers Health in January to levels not seen in at least a year, according to Hazeltree data provided to Reuters. The rise in short interest preceded a sequence of events that included Hims withdrawing a low-cost version of Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss drug under FDA scrutiny, a patent lawsuit from Novo No…

EU Ministers to Weigh Measures to Strengthen Euro's Global Role

EU Ministers to Weigh Measures to Strengthen Euro's Global Role

Euro area finance ministers will evaluate a set of proposals intended to increase the euro's appeal as an international currency and reduce reliance on foreign financial infrastructure. The European Commission's list ranges from removing internal barriers and harmonising corporate law to issuing joint debt, launching a digital euro and encouraging …

BOE Chief Economist Says U.K. Inflation Is Slowing, But Not Quickly Enough

BOE Chief Economist Says U.K. Inflation Is Slowing, But Not Quickly Enough

Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill said consumer-price inflation in the U.K. is declining but at a slower rate than authorities hoped. Pill emphasized that much of the projected drop in inflation reflects government interventions to lower energy costs rather than deeper underlying economic improvements. He also stood with a majority of Moneta…

Central Bank of Russia Lowers Policy Rate by 50 Basis Points to 15.50%

Central Bank of Russia Lowers Policy Rate by 50 Basis Points to 15.50%

The Central Bank of Russia cut its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 15.50% on Friday, marking a cumulative reduction of 550 basis points since it began easing policy in June last year. The decision surprised a majority of market analysts, with an LSEG poll showing only eight of 24 respondents predicted the cut while 16 expected the bank to h…