Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Wednesday discussed the Fed’s plans for its balance sheet. That’s the list of all the assets it owns, and it is huge: $4.5 trillion worth. The plan is to slowly shrink that down by a few billion dollars a month, starting soon. Here’s how the Fed came to own […]
There are new numbers out today that show just how much we spent on retail last month. And it was not so great. Retail sales were down 0.3 percent, which is the biggest monthly decline in more than a year. Department stores in particular have been struggling, but we wondered if there are any silver […]
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates about a quarter percent today, but yields on 10-year Treasury notes have been trading just around their 2017 lows — about 2.21 percent. That’s the interest rate paid to the borrower of these notes. Yields rise when traders expect inflation to increase, and, therefore, interest rates climb. So what […]
We are slowly becoming a nation of renters. What does that mean for Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored backer of mortgages for individuals and investors?
Macy’s, like so many other department giants, is reeling from falling sales. Dozens of it stores have shut down as it loses foot traffic to online competition. To reboot itself, Macy’s says it has a new strategy: It plans to offer more exclusive lines. Click the audio player above to hear the full story.
Children’s clothing chain Gymboree announced Sunday it’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The retailer will close about 400 of its 1,300 stores and restructure debt in a bid to stay alive. Gymboree views its troubles as part of the larger challenges facing the retail industry as customers move their business online, but some of its […]
General Electric announced today that its CEO, Jeff Immelt, is stepping down. He’ll be replaced by John Flannery, who had been in charge of GE’s health care division. Shareholders have not been happy with the company’s stock performance under Immelt’s leadership. GE will have to let go of some segments dragging it down. Click the […]
Credit card defaults are rising as lending standards have started to fall from the early post-recession days — that’s according to a new report by the credit rating agency Moody’s. The report shows even with unemployment at low levels, those charge-offs have increased significantly for some U.S. lenders, exceeding expectations of a modest rise. […]
