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Tag: Prices

  • Rents across the U.S. grew for the first time in 6 months — only Arizona saw price drops in every metro

    Rents across the U.S. grew for the first time in 6 months — only Arizona saw price drops in every metro

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    Ascentxmedia | E+ | Getty Images

    Rent prices for one- and two-bedroom apartments grew in March for the first time in six months.

    The monthly cost for a one-bedroom apartment across the U.S. bumped up to $1,487, a 0.3% increase from February. The price of a typical two-bedroom apartment also jumped 0.5% to $1,847, according to a new report by Zumper, a real estate data site. 

    While prices are up overall, some metro areas saw declines. For example, the rent price for a one-bedroom apartment in Baltimore, Maryland, is $1,390, down 0.7% from a year ago, per Zumper.

    Arizona is unique, with rent decreases in all the major metro areas assessed. On a statewide level, the median price for one-bedroom apartments declined to $1,311 in March, about a 4% decline from $1,365 a year ago, according to Zumper data.

    The broader rental market’s slight increase in prices may be a reflection of old seasonal patterns, experts say.

    “It’s kind of expected,” said Crystal Chen, a spokeswoman for Zumper. “When we get to the warmer months, that’s when demand picks up.”

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    “During the colder months of the year … the rental market tends to be cool,” said Jacob Channel, a senior economist at LendingTree. “As we get closer and closer to summer, we start to see rent prices increase in more places.”

    Yet, some fundamental factors such as supply and demand may also be reflected, said Susan M. Wachter, a professor of real estate and finance at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

    Why Arizona prices are coming down

    Some markets in the country are cooling more than others. Prices in the Sun Belt and the intermountain areas are coming down, and Arizona is a prime example, Chen said. Zumper defines the intermountain region as Arizona, Nevada and Colorado.

    “All of the Arizona cities on our report either had flat or declining year-over-year rates,” she said.

    The city of Glendale, for example, had the largest rent decline, with one-bedroom prices down over 10% from this time last year.

    Arizona has a lot of supply coming online, keeping rent prices down in the area, Wachter explained.

    “In the data, there’s some evidence of fundamentals at play, in addition to seasonality,” she said.

    Phoenix is expected to add more than 33,000 new units available this year and many buildings in the state are offering concessions, such as waived deposits or application fees and up to two months of free rent, Zumper found.

    “If you’re in that market, it’s a great time for renters to snag an amenity-rich apartment that would have been out of reach otherwise,” Chen said.

    Supply plays into rent prices elsewhere

    While more supply is expected to surge in the Sun Belt and the intermountain region, a lot of Midwestern and Northeast markets are undersupplied, making rent prices push upward.

    “The supply coming online absolutely does vary by market,” Wachter said.

    Rent prices for one-bedroom apartments are up 25% in New York City from a year ago, according to Zumper. Rent costs and high competition also plague areas such as Columbus, Ohio, and Norfolk, Virginia.

    Yet, while prices increased, they’ve significantly declined from a year ago and even more compared with the market volatility from 2021 and 2022, when pent-up demand kept prices high.

    “Rent prices are going up and they are expensive, but it’s not suddenly skyrocketing again,” Channel said.

    “We don’t expect to see national rates spike at all like in 2021 and 2022,” Chen said. “The seasonality is coming back after two crazy years.”

    While many factors affect housing affordability in the U.S., the main one, in simplest terms, is poor supply, Channel said.

    “The more rental units that are built, the lower prices are likely to go, and I think Arizona shows that really well,” he said.

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  • U.S. stocks have ‘limited upside’ from here, says Goldman Sachs Asset Management

    U.S. stocks have ‘limited upside’ from here, says Goldman Sachs Asset Management

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    The floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

    Brendan McDermid | Reuters

    U.S. stocks have “limited upside” from here, given the macroeconomic backdrop — and investors should be looking for better opportunities elsewhere, according to Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

    The U.S. economy has been surprisingly resilient in the face of the Federal Reserve‘s aggressive monetary policy tightening over the last two years, defying expectations of a 2023 recession.

    Though GSAM’s base case is for the Fed to engineer a soft landing and for the U.S. economy to avoid recession, James Ashley, head of international market strategy, told CNBC on Wednesday that if a recession were to come, it would be this year.

    “The Fed only began to hike in March of ’22, so when we’re talking about recession risks in 2023, that would have assumed a very rapid passthrough from the transmission of monetary policy into the real economy. In other words, it was premature,” Ashley said.

    “Monetary policy typically operates with a lag of about two years so if you’re going to see that recession — and it is an ‘if’ statement, the base case is we don’t get a recession — but if you were ever going to get a recession, it would be ’24, not ’23.”

    The Fed held interest rates steady at a target range of 5.25-5.5% at its March meeting, and markets are pricing a first 25 basis point cut in June as the central bank begins to unwind its restrictive monetary policy in light of falling inflation a slowing economy.

    Ashley noted that for stock markets, “a little bit of weakness is your friend” as the associated disinflationary pressure gives the Fed the capacity to begin cutting rates, but with the market having priced in a lot of the expected policy loosening, GSAM still believes the recent bull run may be running out of road.

    “We do tend to think that U.S. equities right now are fairly valued but there’s limited upside at these valuations. The better opportunities might be in other markets,” he concluded.

    India

    Where emerging markets are concerned, the Wall Street giant’s asset management arm sees India as a “strategic long-term growth story,” Ashley said.

    “Where we see many other economies beginning to slow for both secular and indeed cyclical reasons, in India’s case, we see the start of a very significant upswing,” he added.

    “We’re looking at an economy here that could be growing at double-digit nominal GDP rates for the foreseeable future.”

    India will continue to be important but 'we're not giving up on China,' says Mark Mobius

    Given the rally already enjoyed in Indian markets of late, Ashley acknowledged that one could not argue that the country’s stocks are “cheap” right now, but insisted there was still “significant upside based on that growth story.”

    “How do you play that? I think there’s an across-the-board story. It’s not about one particular sector, and if you look at the small and mid-caps in particular, there’s a huge opportunity to generate alpha in that market,” he added.

    Japan

    In contrast to most central banks across major economies, which are deciding when to begin cutting rates, the Bank of Japan last week hiked them for the first time in 17 years, finally ending its experiment with negative rates and unconventional easing tools that were aimed at reflating the world’s fourth-largest economy.

    Japanese stocks were a strong performer in 2023 and into this year, but Ashley argued that this significant monetary policy shift means they have more room to run.

    Japan is seen as an 'investable' market again: JIC CIO

    “Japan is the one major economy where inflation is not a problem, it’s a solution. It’s a solution to a 30-year-old problem,” he said, adding that the central bank’s goal now is “not choking off inflationary pressures” but “embracing them.”

    “What that means from an equity perspective is that firms suddenly have more pricing power. So when we look at developed markets right now, in our view, Japan is the most attractive both on the short-term and indeed the long-term, so there’s significantly further to go, we think,” he concluded.

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  • GasBuddy: Avg. Albany prices jump 8.8 cents in last week

    GasBuddy: Avg. Albany prices jump 8.8 cents in last week

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    ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Average gasoline prices in Albany have risen 8.8 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.46/g on Monday, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 546 stations in Albany. Prices in Albany are 14.7 cents per gallon higher than a month ago and 2.7 cents per gallon higher than a year ago. The national average diesel price has risen 2.0 cents in the last week and is $4.02 per gallon.

    According to GasBuddy price reports, the cheapest station in Albany was priced at $3.19/g Sunday, while the most expensive was $3.79/g, a difference of 60.0 cents per gallon. The lowest price in the state Sunday was $2.35/g while the highest was $4.39/g, a difference of $2.04/g.

    The national average price of gasoline has risen 6.4 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.51/g Monday. The national average is up 27.0 cents per gallon from a month ago and 8.7 cents per gallon higher than a year ago, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million weekly price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.

    Historical gasoline prices in Albany and the national average going back ten years:

    March 25, 2023: $3.43/g (U.S. Average: $3.42/g)
    March 25, 2022: $4.28/g (U.S. Average: $4.24/g)
    March 25, 2021: $2.88/g (U.S. Average: $2.86/g)
    March 25, 2020: $2.31/g (U.S. Average: $2.03/g)
    March 25, 2019: $2.62/g (U.S. Average: $2.65/g)
    March 25, 2018: $2.62/g (U.S. Average: $2.60/g)
    March 25, 2017: $2.30/g (U.S. Average: $2.28/g)
    March 25, 2016: $2.07/g (U.S. Average: $2.03/g)
    March 25, 2015: $2.51/g (U.S. Average: $2.42/g)
    March 25, 2014: $3.68/g (U.S. Average: $3.53/g)

    Neighboring areas and their current gas prices:

    Waterbury- $3.39/g, up 5.7 cents per gallon from last week’s $3.34/g
    Hartford- $3.38/g, up 8.4 cents per gallon from last week’s $3.30/g
    Springfield- $3.25/g, up 6.1 cents per gallon from last week’s $3.19/g

    “We’ve now seen the national average price of gasoline rising for four straight weeks, which isn’t uncommon for this time of year. What is uncommon is the number of attacks on Russian oil refiners; attacks which could have ripple effects worldwide if they continue,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “Russia could see more capacity impacted by the attacks, forcing it to buy such products on the global market, pushing prices up everywhere. With oil prices now under more pressure and attacks potentially increasing on Russian refiners, we could be in for a few more weeks of rising prices. Significant as well is the fact that Americans are now seeing inflation again at the pump with prices higher than they were a year ago.”

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  • Immigration is boosting the U.S. economy and has been ‘really underestimated,’ says JPMorgan research head

    Immigration is boosting the U.S. economy and has been ‘really underestimated,’ says JPMorgan research head

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    U.S. commuters.

    Caroline Purser | The Image Bank | Getty Images

    The recent surge in immigration into the U.S. is helping to bolster the economy despite a raft of global challenges, according to Joyce Chang, chair of global research at JPMorgan.

    The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its U.S. GDP growth projection to 2.1% for 2024, up from 1.4% in its December outlook, as the economy continues to display resilience despite high interest rates as the central bank seeks to manage inflation levels.

    Meanwhile, the labor market has stayed relatively hot despite tighter monetary conditions, with unemployment remaining below 4% in February and the economy adding 275,000 jobs.

    The Fed also raised its projections for its preferred measure of inflation: core personal consumption expenditure. It now expects the core PCE to come in at 2.6%, up from 2.4%, after January and February inflation prints dampened hopes that price increases were fully under control.

    The core consumer price index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.4% in February on the month and was up 3.8% on the year, slightly higher than forecast.

    “We are still seeing the phenomena around the globe that services inflation is still well above where it was before the pandemic, so we’re looking at 3% for core CPI, but I think one thing that was really underestimated in the U.S. was the immigration story,” Chang told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday.

    “The U.S. population is almost 6 million higher than it was two years ago or so, and so that has accounted for a lot of the increase in consumption, when you see the very low unemployment numbers as well.”

    She noted that upward pressure on wages and housing costs, along with a resurgence in energy prices so far this year, suggest that the Fed is “not out of the woods yet” when it comes to inflation.

    A recent Congressional Budget Office report estimated that net immigration to the U.S. was 3.3 million in 2023 and is projected to remain at that level in 2024, before dropping to 2.6 million in 2025 and 1.8 million in 2026.

    Immigration, and particularly border crossings, is among the hottest topics in the run-up to the November presidential election. Chang suggested that other events could exacerbate the issue, particularly the unfolding situation in Haiti.

    However, she argued that in terms of net impact on the economy, immigration is “a good thing.”

    “From everything that we have seen, the revenues that are generated exceed the expenses. Now it is a political issue, not just here in the U.S. but you look at Europe, it’s also probably the No. 1 issue right now, but we do think that when you look at the unemployment numbers, the strength of consumption, the immigration was a big part of that,” Chang said.

    Vanguard economist says Fed to keep interest rates on hold for the rest of the year

    Other factors that have enabled the U.S. economy to outperform its peers include its high fiscal deficit and its energy independence, Chang added. Europe has struggled in recent years to eradicate its reliance on Russia for energy supply.

    Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office projects that the U.S. federal budget deficit totaled $1.4 trillion in 2023, or 5.3% of GDP, which will swell to 6.1% of GDP in 2024 and 2025.

    “I think that also in an election year you’re going to see a lot of spending before Sept. 30 as well, so there aren’t really many signs that those numbers [will subside]. I think that’s one reason why I do think that higher for longer will be here to stay,” Chang added. Sept. 30 is the end of the U.S. government’s fiscal year.

    With this in mind, JPMorgan sees only a “shallow” loosening cycle from the Federal Reserve, with inflationary pressures set to persist against the backdrop of high government spending and immigration.

    Read more CNBC politics coverage

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  • The Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady, with no immediate relief for consumers from sky-high borrowing costs

    The Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady, with no immediate relief for consumers from sky-high borrowing costs

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    The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday it will leave interest rates unchanged, delaying the possibility of rate cuts as well as any relief from sky-high borrowing costs.

    Overall, expectations that the Fed is pulling off a soft landing have increased, but that offers little consolation for Americans with high-interest debt.

    And now there may be fewer interest rate cuts on the horizon after hotter-than-expected inflation reports sent the message that “we are moving in the right direction, but we’re not there yet,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com.

    For consumers, that means “a very slow downward drift in savings rates but no material change in borrowing costs for credit cards, auto loans or home equity lines of credit,” McBride said.

    More from Personal Finance:
    Here’s when the Fed is likely to start cutting interest rates
    Nearly half of young adults have ‘money dysmorphia’
    Deflation: Here’s where prices fell

    Inflation has been a persistent problem since the Covid-19 pandemic, when price increases soared to their highest levels since the early 1980s. The Fed responded with a series of interest rate hikes that took its benchmark rate to its highest level in more than 22 years.

    The federal funds rate, which is set by the U.S. central bank, is the interest rate at which banks borrow and lend to one another overnight. Although that’s not the rate consumers pay, the Fed’s moves still affect the borrowing and savings rates they see every day.

    The spike in interest rates caused most consumer borrowing costs to skyrocket, putting many households under pressure.

    Even with some rate cuts on the horizon later this year, consumers won’t see their borrowing costs come down significantly, according to Columbia Business School economics professor Brett House.

    “The costs of borrowing will remain relatively tight in real terms as inflation pressures continue to ease gradually,” he said.

    From credit cards and mortgage rates to auto loans and savings accounts, here’s a look at where those rates could go in 2024.

    Credit cards

    Since most credit cards have a variable rate, there’s a direct connection to the Fed’s benchmark. In the wake of the rate hike cycle, the average credit card rate rose from 16.34% in March 2022 to nearly 21% today — an all-time high.

    With most people feeling strained by higher prices, balances are higher and more cardholders are carrying debt from month to month compared with last year.

    Annual percentage rates will start to come down when the Fed cuts rates, but even then they will only ease off extremely high levels. With only a few potential quarter-point cuts on deck, APRs would still be around 20% by the end of 2024, according to Ted Rossman, Bankrate’s senior industry analyst.

    “If the average credit card rate falls a percentage point from its current record high of 20.75%, most cardholders would barely notice,” he said.

    Mortgage rates

    Although 15- and 30-year mortgage rates are fixed, and tied to Treasury yields and the economy, anyone shopping for a new home has lost considerable purchasing power, partly because of inflation and the Fed’s policy moves.

    But rates are already lower since hitting 8% in October. Now, the average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage is near 7%. That’s up from 4.4% when the Fed started raising rates in March 2022 and 3.27% at the end of 2021, according to Bankrate.

    Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae, expects mortgage rates will end the year at 6.4%, but that won’t provide much of a boost for would-be homebuyers.

    “The housing market is likely to continue to face the dual affordability constraints of high home prices and elevated interest rates in 2024,” Duncan said. “The problem is still supply. If rates come down and it ramps up demand and there’s no supply, the only thing that happens is that home prices go up.”

    Auto loans

    Even though auto loans are fixed, payments are getting bigger because car prices have been rising along with the interest rates on new loans, resulting in less affordable monthly payments. 

    The average rate on a five-year new car loan is now more than 7%, up from 4% when the Fed started raising rates, according to Edmunds. However, competition between lenders and more incentives in the market have started to take some of the edge off the cost of buying a car lately, said Ivan Drury, Edmunds’ director of insights.

    Once the Fed cuts rates, “that gives people a little more breathing room,” Drury said. “Last year was ugly all around. At least there’s an upside this year.”

    Student loans

    Federal student loan rates are also fixed, so most borrowers aren’t immediately affected. But undergraduate students who take out new direct federal student loans are now paying 5.50% — up from 4.99% in the 2022-23 academic year and 3.73% in 2021-22.

    Private student loans tend to have a variable rate tied to the prime, Treasury bill or another rate index, which means those borrowers are already paying more in interest. How much more, however, varies with the benchmark.

    For those struggling with existing debt, there are ways federal borrowers can reduce their burden, including income-based plans with $0 monthly payments and economic hardship and unemployment deferments. 

    Private loan borrowers have fewer options for relief — although some could consider refinancing once rates start to come down, and those with better credit may already qualify for a lower rate.

    Savings rates

    While the central bank has no direct influence on deposit rates, the yields tend to be correlated to changes in the target federal funds rate.

    As a result, top-yielding online savings account rates have made significant moves and are now paying more than 5% — above the rate of inflation, which is a rare win for anyone building up an emergency savings account, McBride said.

    Since those rates have likely maxed out, this is the time to lock in certificates of deposit, especially maturities longer than one year, he said. “There’s no incentive to hold out for something better because that’s not the way the wind is blowing.”

    Currently, one-year CDs are averaging 1.73%, but top-yielding CD rates pay over 5%, as good as or better than a high-yield savings account.

    Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO:

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  • The Federal Reserve may not cut interest rates just yet, here’s what that means for your money

    The Federal Reserve may not cut interest rates just yet, here’s what that means for your money

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    Economists expect the Federal Reserve to leave interest rates unchanged at the end of its two-day meeting this week, even though many experts anticipate the central bank is preparing to start cutting rates in the months ahead.

    In prepared remarks earlier this month, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said policymakers don’t want to ease up too quickly.

    Powell noted that lowering rates rapidly risks losing the battle against inflation and likely having to raise rates further, while waiting too long poses danger to economic growth.

    But in the meantime, consumers won’t see much relief from sky-high borrowing costs.

    More from Personal Finance:
    Here’s when the Fed is likely to start cutting interest rates
    Nearly half of young adults have ‘money dysmorphia’
    Deflation: Here’s where prices fell

    In 2022 and the first half of 2023, the Fed raised rates 11 times, causing consumer borrowing rates to skyrocket while inflation remained elevated, and putting households under pressure.

    With the combination of sustained inflation and higher interest rates, “many consumers are experiencing higher levels of economic stress compared to one year ago,” said Silvio Tavares, CEO of credit scoring company VantageScore.

    The federal funds rate, which is set by the U.S. central bank, is the interest rate at which banks borrow and lend to one another overnight. Although that’s not the rate consumers pay, the Fed’s moves still affect the borrowing and savings rates they see every day.

    Even once the central bank does cut rates — which some now expect could happen in June — the pace that they trim is going to be much slower than the pace at which they hiked, according to Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.

    “Interest rates took the elevator going up; they are going to take the stairs coming down,” he said.

    Here’s a breakdown of where consumer rates stand now and where they may be headed:

    Credit cards

    Since most credit cards have a variable rate, there’s a direct connection to the Fed’s benchmark. Because of the central bank’s rate hike cycle, the average credit card rate rose from 16.34% in March 2022 to nearly 21% today — an all-time high.

    With most people feeling strained by higher prices, balances are higher and more cardholders are carrying debt from month to month compared to last year.

    Annual percentage rates will start to come down when the Fed cuts rates but even then, they will only ease off extremely high levels. With only a few potential quarter-point cuts on deck, APRs would still be around 20% by the end of 2024, McBride said.

    “If the Fed cuts rates twice by a quarter point, your credit card rate will fall by half a percent,” he said.

    Mortgage rates

    Fifteen- and 30-year mortgage rates are fixed, and tied to Treasury yields and the economy. But anyone shopping for a new home has lost considerable purchasing power, partly because of inflation and the Fed’s policy moves.

    Rates are already significantly lower since hitting 8% in October. Now, the average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage is around 7%, up from 4.4% when the Fed started raising rates in March 2022 and 3.27% at the end of 2021, according to Bankrate.

    “Despite the recent dip, mortgage rates remain high as the market contends with the pressure of sticky inflation,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “In this environment, there is a good possibility that rates will stay higher for a longer period of time.”

    Adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, and home equity lines of credit, or HELOCs, are pegged to the prime rate and those rates remain high.

    “The reality of it is, a lot of borrowers are paying double-digit interest rates on those right now,” McBride said. “That is not a low cost of borrowing and that’s not going to change.”

    Auto loans

    Even though auto loans are fixed, payments are getting bigger because car prices have been rising along with the interest rates on new loans, resulting in less affordable monthly payments. 

    The average rate on a five-year new car loan is now more than 7%, up from 4% when the Fed started raising rates, according to Edmunds. However, competition between lenders and more incentives in the market have started to take some of the edge off the cost of buying a car lately, said Ivan Drury, Edmunds’ director of insights.

    Once the Fed cuts rates, “that gives people a little more breathing room,” Drury said. “Last year was ugly all around. At least there’s an upside this year.”

    Federal student loans

    Federal student loan rates are also fixed, so most borrowers aren’t immediately affected by the Fed’s moves. But undergraduate students who take out new direct federal student loans are now paying 5.50% — up from 4.99% in the 2022-23 academic year and 3.73% in 2021-22.

    Private student loans tend to have a variable rate tied to the prime, Treasury bill or another rate index, which means those borrowers are already paying more in interest. How much more, however, varies with the benchmark.

    For those struggling with existing debt, there are ways federal borrowers can reduce their burden, including income-based plans with $0 monthly payments and economic hardship and unemployment deferments. 

    Private loan borrowers have fewer options for relief — although some could consider refinancing once rates start to come down, and those with better credit may already qualify for a lower rate.

    Savings rates

    While the central bank has no direct influence on deposit rates, the yields tend to be correlated to changes in the target federal funds rate.

    As a result, top-yielding online savings account rates have made significant moves and are now paying more than 5% — above the rate of inflation, which is a rare win for anyone building up an emergency savings account, McBride said.

    Since those rates have likely maxed out, this is the time to lock in certificates of deposit, especially maturities longer than one year, he advised. “There’s no incentive to hold out for something better because that’s not the way the wind is blowing.”

    Currently, one-year CDs are averaging 1.73% but top-yielding CD rates pay over 5%, as good or better than a high-yield savings account.

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  • CNBC Daily Open: Wall Street focus turns to the Fed

    CNBC Daily Open: Wall Street focus turns to the Fed

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    A trader works, as a screen displays a news conference by Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell following the Fed rate announcement, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 13, 2023.

    Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters

    This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

    What you need to know today

    Stocks close lower
    Wall Street ended lower on Friday as investors await the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting this week for insights on rate cuts. The S&P 500 posted its second straight weekly drop, down 0.65%. The Nasdaq Composite retreated 0.96% and the 30-stock Dow lost 0.49%. In Asia, the Bank of Japan will decide at the end of it’s two-day policy meeting starting Monday if the country is ready to scrap the world’s last negative interest rate policy.

    White House on TikTok
    The White House has called on a more divided Senate to ‘move swiftly’ on the TikTok bill that requires Chinese tech company ByteDance to sell the video app or face a ban in the U.S. Last week, the House of Representatives passed the legislation with strong bipartisan support and President Joe Biden has indicated he would sign it if approved by Congress.

    Bullish on global trade
    The CEO of Hapag-Lloyd, one of world’s top ocean shippers, says he’s more bullish on trade for this year. He told CNBC inventories are depleted in many cases and the ocean carrier has seen a recovery after the Chinese New Year. Shares of the company recently plunged after it posted a sharp fall in net profit in 2023 and cut its dividend.

    Laid-off tech workers face gloom
    Tech workers recently laid off are struggling with a “sense of impending doom” as jobs cuts are at the highest since the dot-com crash.CNBC spoke to number of people about how they’re navigating the challenging market. Jobs are getting tougher to find with many in the sector having to settle for pay cuts.

    [PRO] U.S. election risk on China stocks  
    Goldman Sachs has revised its barometer for the level of risk from U.S.-China tensions in Chinese stocks. It now stands at 53 out of 100, signaling a “somewhat benign” outlook for relations between the two countries. “The build-up to and the election will be consequential to asset markets globally, US-China relations, and the returns of Chinese equities,” the analysts said.

    The bottom line

    It will be a pivotal week for Wall Street as markets attention will turn to the Fed.

    Signals from Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the other officials on future rate cuts will be in sharp focus as policymakers give updates on rates, economic growth, inflation and unemployment at their two-day meeting which wraps up on Wednesday.

    Last week’s one-two punch of bad news on consumer and producer prices, sparked investor anxiety that inflation may have plateaued as price pressures remain sticky.

    “Hotter-than-expected inflation data to start the year argue for a hawkish-leaning message from the Fed at the March FOMC meeting. That said, in a very close call, we do not yet expect this to manifest in the Fed signaling less easing this year,” said Deutsche Bank in a note.

    “Our baseline remains that the first-rate cut will come in June and the Fed will deliver 100bps of reductions this year. However, risks are clearly skewed to more hawkish outcomes. The timing and pace of rate cuts could well be irregular this cycle and will likely be highly data dependent.”

    Investors will also want to know whether the Fed will continue to pencil in three rate cuts for this year. Some economists argue there’s a good chance it could be pared back to only two.

    JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon recently said the central bank should move slowly on rate cuts given inflation pressures.  

    “You can always cut it quickly and dramatically. Their credibility is a little bit at stake here,” he said. “I would even wait past June and let it all sort it out.”

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  • CNBC Daily Open: Sticky inflation muddies water for Fed

    CNBC Daily Open: Sticky inflation muddies water for Fed

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    A man shops for fruit at a grocery store on February 01, 2023 in New York City.

    Leonardo Munoz | Corbis News | Getty Images

    This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

    What you need to know today

    Stocks rally
    Wall Street     closed higher on Tuesday with the S&P 500 hitting a fresh record, up 1.1%. The blue-chip Dow gained over 200 points, while the Nasdaq added 1.5% as U.S. inflation data came in mildly higher than expected in February. 

    Record shareholder payouts
    Shareholder payouts hit a record $1.7 trillion last year, according to a new report by British asset manager Janus Henderson. Nearly half of the world’s total dividend growth came from the banking sector, which delivered record payouts as rising borrowing costs lifted lenders’ margins, the report found. 

    Boeing crisis hurt airlines
    CEOs from several airlines say Boeing’s delivery delays have forced the carriers to change their growth plans. Boeing’s crisis has deepened since a door plug blew out midflight from an Alaska Airlines Max 9 in January. Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines and United, are some of the top buyers of Boeing’s aircraft that have been impacted by its problems.

    Citadel on rate cuts
    Inflation tailwinds remain and the Fed shouldn’t cut rates too quickly, says Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin. “If I’m them, I don’t want to cut too quickly,” he noted, adding that it will be “more devastating” if they have to change direction after initially cutting rates. “I think they are going to be a bit slower than what people were expecting two months ago in cutting rates.”

    [PRO] Buy or sell Nivida?
    Nvidia’s stock has surged over 200% in 2023 alone, powered by the global AI frenzy. Is it time to take profit or should investors stay the course? Experts who currently hold the chip giant’s stock share their insights.   

     

    The bottom line

    Once again, inflation came in hot for a second straight month.   

    February’s consumer prices data was a touch better than January’s troubling inflation print. 

    Still, core inflation — which excludes food and energy — was stronger than expected, up 0.4% last month, which reflects lingering stickiness in price pressures.

    Investors don’t expect that latest data to move the needle on the Fed cutting rates in June. That could be why markets have had a more muted reaction to the news.

    “We have the numbers we have and this wasn’t great news for the Fed but markets don’t see it as a big threat to rate cuts later in the year,” Kathy Jones, chief fixed income strategist at Charles Schwab, said on X.

    Yet, the hot print poses a problem for the Fed and muddies the water for its deliberations on the coming rate cuts.

    “The long-term disinflation trajectory probably has not changed, but the path to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target will be choppy,” noted LPL Financial chief economist Jeffrey Roach. “Expect to see markets struggle with what this means for Fed policy.”

    There is a lot riding for Wall Street when the central bank meets next week. Investors’ main focus will be on whether the Fed will continue to pencil in three rates for this year or will officials decide to change course.

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  • Watch: ECB President Christine Lagarde speaks after rate decision

    Watch: ECB President Christine Lagarde speaks after rate decision

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    [The stream is slated to start at 8:45 a.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.]

    European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is giving a press conference following the bank’s latest monetary policy decision.

    It comes after the bank’s policymakers lowered their annual growth forecast, as they confirmed a widely expected hold of interest rates.

    ECB staff projections now see economic growth of 0.6% in 2024, from a prior forecast of 0.8%. Their inflation forecast for the year was brought to 2.3% from 2.7%.

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  • China’s central bank governor says there’s room to cut banks’ reserve requirements

    China’s central bank governor says there’s room to cut banks’ reserve requirements

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    China’s central bank governor said there was room to further cut banks’ reserve requirements, and pledged to utilize monetary policy to prop up consumer prices.

    Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    BEIJING — China’s central bank governor said there was room to further cut banks’ reserve requirements, and pledged to utilize monetary policy to “mildly” prop up consumer prices.

    This is part of Beijing’s broader economic policy “adjustments” so the economy can hit its growth target of around 5% for the year, while adhering to a 3% fiscal deficit. Plans to issue “ultra-long” special bonds for major projects will also help meet that target.

    Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People’s Bank of China, made these comments on Wednesday as part of a joint press conference with other key leaders of the country’s economy and financial sector on the sidelines of this year’s annual parliamentary meetings.

    China’s growth target and economic plans for the year, released Tuesday in an annual government work report, fell short of many analysts’ expectations for further stimulus and raised questions about how China would be able to achieve another year of growth that’s around 5%. National GDP rose by 5.2% in 2023, up from a low base in 2022.

    For investors in the near term, the primary concern remains how much China’s policymakers are focused on ensuring growth.

    “In order to achieve this [target of around 5%], the government work report proposed many major policies,” Huang Shouhong, head of the report’s drafting team and director of the State Council’s research office, told reporters on Tuesday in Mandarin, translated by CNBC.

    This is a developing story. Please check back for more updates.

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  • Turkish annual inflation soars to 67% in February

    Turkish annual inflation soars to 67% in February

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    The Maslak financial and business center in the Sariyer district of Istanbul.

    Ayhan Altun | Moment | Getty Images

    Turkish annual consumer price inflation soared to 67.07% in February, the Turkish Statistical Institute said Monday, coming in above expectations.

    Analysts polled by Reuters had anticipated annual inflation would climb to 65.7% last month.

    The combined sector of hotels, cafes and restaurants saw the greatest annual price inflation increase at 94.78%, followed by education at 91.84%, while the rate for health stood at 81.25% and transportation at 77.98%, according to the statistical institute.

    Food and non-alcoholic beverage consumer prices jumped 71.12% in February year-on-year and recorded a surprisingly large monthly rise of 8.25%.

    The monthly rate of change for the country’s inflation from January to February was 4.53%.

    The strong figures are fueling concerns that Turkey’s central bank, which had indicated last month that its painful eight-month long rate hiking cycle was over, may have to return to tightening.

    “The stronger-than-expected rise in Turkish inflation to 67.1% y/y in February adds to our concerns given that it comes on the back of a large increase in inflation in January and the strength of household spending growth in Q4,” Liam Peach, senior emerging markets economist at London-based Capital Economics, wrote in a research note on Monday.

    “Core price pressures continue to run hot and if this continues, the possibility of a restart to the central bank’s tightening cycle will only increase in the coming months,” he said.

    Some analysts predicted an eventual fall in inflation down to around 35% by the end of this year. According to Capital Economics, the latest figures “highlight that inflation pressures in the economy remain very strong and suggest that the disinflation process has taken a setback at the start of this year.”

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  • China producer prices dip in January for a 16th month; consumer prices see biggest drop since 2009

    China producer prices dip in January for a 16th month; consumer prices see biggest drop since 2009

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    People shop for Spring Festival ornaments at a market in Zixing city, Central China’s Hunan province, Feb 4, 2024.

    CFOTO | Future Publishing | Getty Images

    China’s producer prices declined for a 16th month in January, while consumer prices saw their biggest drop since 2009 — underscoring the depth of the challenge that Beijing faces in reflating the world’s second-largest economy.

    China’s producer price index fell 2.5% in January from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics reported Thursday, slightly better than expectations for a 2.6% decline, after a 2.7% drop in December.

    The country’s consumer price index fell 0.8% in January on an annual basis, more than the median estimate for a 0.5% decline in a Reuters poll. This is its fourth consecutive decline. On a monthly basis though, CPI climbed 0.3% in January from December, slightly weaker than median expectations for 0.4% growth.

    “The market is not completely surprised by the deflation numbers, because the deflationary pressures upstream have been lingering for well more than a year now, so the upstream pressures now is being passed on the downstream,” Hao Hong, chief economist and partner at GROW Investment Group, told CNBC “Street Signs Asia” on Thursday.

    He pointed to the 17.3% decline in pork prices in January from a year ago, which is suffering from substantial oversupply after authorities moved to aggressively restore supply in China’s staple meat in the last two years after a battle with swine flu.

    Overall, food prices declined 5.9% in January from a year ago.

    Core CPI — which strips out energy and food prices — climbed 0.4% in January from a year earlier, the bureau said in a separate statement. On a monthly basis, this translated into a 0.3% growth in January from December, NBS said.

    NBS said January’s inflation data was influenced by the high base effect of Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year, which fell in January a year ago. The festival falls in February this year.

    Thursday’s inflation print emphasize lingering fears China is tethering on the verge of deflation. Tepid prices highlight what China’s top leaders labeled as a “tortuous” economic recovery after the country emerged from its draconian zero-Covid curbs toward the end of 2022.

    China stands as a stark outlier among the world’s major economies, which are mostly battling stubbornly high inflation. The latest official and private surveys of manufacturing activity showed that growing market competition has limited the bargaining power of Chinese companies, depressing output prices.

    Consumer confidence and broader growth in the Chinese economy have been hard hit by a property market slump after Beijing cracked down on developers’ high reliance on debt for growth in 2020.

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  • CNBC Daily Open: Wall Street rattled over Fed worries

    CNBC Daily Open: Wall Street rattled over Fed worries

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    A trader works, as a screen displays a news conference by Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell following the Fed rate announcement, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., January 31, 2024. 

    Brendan McDermid | Reuters

    This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

    What you need to know today

    Wall Street retreats
    U.S. stocks     lost ground on Monday and Treasury yields rose amid lingering concerns that the Federal Reserve may not cut rates as much as expected. The blue-chip Dow fell over 200 points. The S&P 500 also slumped after hitting a record high last week. The Nasdaq Composite also dropped 0.2%. 

    Oil’s supply crunch
    The oil market faces a supply crunch by the end of 2025 as the world is not replacing crude reserves fast enough, according to Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub. About 97% of the oil produced today was discovered in the 20th century, she told CNBC. 

    Palantir surges
    Shares of Palantir spiked 19% in extended trading after the company reported revenue that topped analysts’ estimates. In a letter to shareholders, Palantir CEO Alex Karp said demand for large language models in the U.S. “continues to be unrelenting.”

    Red Sea tensions
    Higher shipping costs due to tensions in the Red Sea could hinder the global fight against inflation, said the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Clare Lombardelli, chief economist at the OECD, told CNBC that shipping-driven inflation pressures remain a risk rather than its base case.

    [PRO] Banking allure
    The banking sector offers attractive opportunities despite an increase in volatility, according to fund manager Cole Smead. “It’s the banks that made bad decisions that are making [other] banks look attractive in pricing,” Smead told CNBC, who picked two bank stocks that are in play. 

    The bottom line

    Investors are once again getting ahead of themselves on the Fed’s next move.

    Markets were rattled after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated the central bank is unlikely to rush to lower interest rates. 

    Wall Street has been parsing his hawkish comments, yet in essence what Powell said over the weekend was no different than what he shared at Wednesday’s press conference: that he wants to see more evidence that inflation is coming down to a sustainable level.

    Still, the debate over the timing of rate cuts unsettled Fed watchers.  

    This sparked a sell-off spurred by higher bond yields. The yield on the 10-year Treasury spiked for a second day, trading around 4.163%. Typically, higher yields tend to indicate investors think the Fed will take longer to cut rates. 

    Fresh data out Monday also didn’t help.  A new survey showed the U.S. services sector expand at a faster-than-expected clip in January. 

    This on top of the booming jobs report released Friday, fueled investor worries that rates may stay elevated for much longer.

    Wall Street will now look ahead to the swath of Fed speakers this week. Perhaps they will shed more light on the path for rate cuts.

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  • Mortgage rates jump back over 7% as stronger economic data rolls in

    Mortgage rates jump back over 7% as stronger economic data rolls in

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    This photo taken on Aug. 22, 2023 shows an advertisement in front of a real estate for sales in Millbrae, California, the United States. The sales of previously owned homes in the United States dropped 2.2 percent in July from June to a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 4.07 million units, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday. Sales were 16.6 percent lower compared with July of last year, while homes were sold at the slowest July pace since 2010. (Photo by Li Jianguo/Xinhua via Getty Images)

    Xinhua News Agency | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

    The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage crossed over 7% on Monday for the first time since December, hitting 7.04%, according to Mortgage News Daily.

    It comes after the rate took the sharpest jump in more than a year Friday, after the January employment report came in much higher than expected. Rates then moved up even more Monday after a monthly manufacturing report came in high as well.

    Mortgage rates have been on a wild ride since the summer, briefly crossing to a 20-year high of 8% in October. Rates then fell sharply, as investors saw more and more evidence that the Federal Reserve would end its latest phase of interest rate increases.

    Mortgage rates do not follow the Fed directly, but they follow loosely the yield on the 10-year Treasury, which is heavily influenced by the central bank’s impression of the economy at any given time.

    “The rapid increase in rates over the past two days is actually not too surprising given the fact that the market was widely seen as overly optimistic on the Fed rate cut outlook. The Fed has repeatedly pointed to economic data having the final say in that outlook and data has been shockingly unfriendly to rates as of Friday morning’s jobs report,” said Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily.

    As mortgage rates fell over the past two months, buyers seemed to be returning to the market. That coincided with a slight uptick in the number of homes for sale. Total inventory, however, is still historically low and is keeping competition high. It is also keeping home prices stubbornly hot.

    High prices and low supply combined to make 2023 the worst for home sales since 1995. Most predict 2024 will be better.

    “The strong job market is good news for the spring buying season as higher household incomes are a necessary component, but it also means that mortgage rates are not likely to drop much further at this point,” said Michael Fratantoni, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association.

    Mortgage applications to purchase a home had been rising steadily, but fell back in the last few weeks, as mortgage rates edged higher. With the all-important spring housing market closing in, rates are more important than ever, given high and still-rising home prices.

    The median price of an existing home sold in December (the most recent data) was $382,600, according to the National Association of Realtors, an increase of 4.4% from December 2022. That was the sixth consecutive month of year-over-year price gains. The median price for the full year was $389,800, a record high.

    Given how high prices are, even small rate swings are having an outsized effect on monthly payments, which are the final determination of affordability. Just a half percentage point swing can cost or save a buyer more than $200 a month on the median-priced home. So what next?

    “The future of rates in 2024 is all about ifs and thens,” said Graham. “If we see more data like last Friday’s jobs report, rates will have a hard time getting back below 7%. But inflation is even more important than the labor market. If inflation comes in cooler than expected, it could balance the outlook.”

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  • How RealPage influences rent prices across the U.S.

    How RealPage influences rent prices across the U.S.

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    RealPage software is used to set rental prices on 4.5 million housing units in the U.S. A series of lawsuits allege that a group of landlords are sharing sensitive data with RealPage, which then artificially inflates rents. The complaints surface as housing supply in the U.S. lags demand. Some of the defendant landlords report high occupancy within their buildings, alongside strong jobs growth in their operating regions and slow home construction.

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  • Why U.S. renters are taking corporate landlords to court

    Why U.S. renters are taking corporate landlords to court

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    A group of renters in the U.S. say their landlords are using software to deliver inflated rent hikes.

    “We’ve been told as tenants by employees of Equity that the software takes empathy out of the equation. So they can charge whatever the software tells them to charge,” said Kevin Weller, a tenant at Portside Towers since 2021.

    Tenants say the management started to increase prices substantially after giving renters concessions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

    The 527-unit building is located roughly 20 minutes away from the World Trade Center, on the shoreline of Jersey City, New Jersey. A group of tenants at the tower is involved in a sprawling class-action lawsuit against RealPage and 34 co-defendant landlords. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a statement of interest in the case in December 2023, arguing that the complaints adequately allege violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

    In November 2023, the attorney general of Washington, D.C., filed a similar but more narrow complaint against RealPage and 14 landlords that collectively manage more than 50,000 apartment units in the District.

    “Effectively, RealPage is facilitating a housing cartel,” said Attorney General of the District of Columbia Brian Schwalb in an interview with CNBC. His office filed the complaint on antitrust grounds. They allege that landlords share competitively sensitive data through RealPage, which then sets artificially high rents on a key slice of the local rental market.

    Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, November 2023

    “Rather than making independent decisions on what the market here in D.C. calls for in terms of filling vacant units, landlords are compelled, under the terms of their agreement with RealPage, to charge what RealPage tells them,” said Schwalb.

    RealPage says its revenue management products use anonymized, aggregated data to deliver pricing recommendations on roughly 4.5 million housing units in the U.S. The company says its tools can increase landlord revenues between 2% and 7%.

    “Just turning the system on will outperform your manual analyst. There’s almost no way it can’t,” said Jeffrey Roper, a former RealPage employee and inventor of YieldStar.

    YieldStar is one of three key revenue management tools offered by RealPage. The software balances prices, occupancy and lease lengths to help property managers optimize their portfolio’s yield. The company feeds data from its models into a newer tool dubbed “AIRM” that considers the effect of credit, marketing and leasing effectiveness.

    RealPage told CNBC that its landlord customers are under no obligation to take their price suggestions. The company also said it charges a fixed fee on each apartment unit managed with its software.

    RealPage was acquired by Miami-based private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $10.2 billion in 2021. In court filings, Thoma Bravo has claimed that it is not liable for the alleged acts of its subsidiary outlined by plaintiffs in the class-action complaints.

    Renters told CNBC they discovered how revenue management software is used in real estate after reading a 2022 ProPublica investigation. Equity Residential investor materials show that the company started to experiment with Lease Rent Options between 2005 and 2008. RealPage acquired the product in 2017.

    “How could we possibly know?” said Harry Gural, a tenant in an Equity Residential property located in the Van Ness neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Gural says he has been involved in legal matters against his landlord’s pricing practices for more than seven years.

    Affiliates of Equity Residential are contesting a separate decision made by a local housing authority in Jersey City regarding prices set on the Portside Towers property. The company has filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the decision, stating that the decision could result in millions of dollars in refunds for tenants.

    Equity Residential and other defendant landlords declined to comment on ongoing RealPage litigation.

    Redfin reports that asking rents in the U.S. ticked down to $1,964 a month in December 2023, a decline from recent highs. Prices are coming down in markets such as Atlanta and Austin, Texas, where home construction is high. But analysts believe low rates of homebuilding on the U.S. East Coast could give well-located landlords more pricing power.

    “Guys like us that own 80,000 well-located apartments, we’re still in a pretty good spot,” said Equity Residential CEO Mark Parrell in a June 2023 interview with CNBC.

    Watch the     video above to learn about the rising tide of lawsuits against U.S. corporate landlords.

    CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misstated when Equity Residential purchased Portside Towers.

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  • Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady, sets the stage for cuts. What that means for your money

    Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady, sets the stage for cuts. What that means for your money

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    The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday it will leave interest rates unchanged, setting the stage for rate cuts to come and paving the way for relief from the combination of higher rates and inflation that have hit consumers particularly hard. 

    Although Fed officials indicated as many as three cuts coming this year, the pace that they trim interest rates is going to be much slower than the pace at which they hiked, according to Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.

    “Interest rates took the elevator going up; they are going to take the stairs coming down,” he said.

    More from Personal Finance:
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    Inflation has been a persistent problem since the Covid-19 pandemic, when price increases soared to their highest levels since the early 1980s. The Fed responded with a series of interest rate hikes that took its benchmark rate to its highest in more than 22 years.

    The federal funds rate, which is set by the U.S. central bank, is the interest rate at which banks borrow and lend to one another overnight. Although that’s not the rate consumers pay, the Fed’s moves still affect the borrowing and savings rates they see every day.

    The spike in interest rates caused most consumer borrowing costs to skyrocket, putting many households under pressure.

    Below the surface, 60% of households are living paycheck to paycheck.

    Greg McBride

    chief financial analyst at Bankrate

    “Below the surface, 60% of households are living paycheck to paycheck,” McBride said. Even as inflation eases, high prices continue to strain budgets and credit card debt continues to rise, he added.

    Now, with rate cuts on the horizon, consumers will see some of their borrowing costs come down as well, although deposit rates will also follow suit.

    From credit cards and mortgage rates to auto loans and savings accounts, here’s a look at where those rates could go in the year ahead.

    Credit cards

    Since most credit cards have a variable rate, there’s a direct connection to the Fed’s benchmark, and because of the central bank’s rate hike cycle, the average credit card rate rose from 16.34% in March 2022 to nearly 21% today — an all-time high.

    Going forward, annual percentage rates will start to come down when the Fed cuts rates but even then, they will only ease off extremely high levels. With only a few potential quarter-point cuts on deck, APRs would still be around 20% by the end of 2024, McBride noted.

    “The credit card rates are going to mimic what the Fed does,” he said, “and those interest rate decreases are going to be modest.”

    Mortgage rates

    Due to higher mortgage rates, 2023 was the least affordable homebuying year in at least 11 years, according to a report from real estate company Redfin.

    Although 15- and 30-year mortgage rates are fixed, and tied to Treasury yields and the economy, anyone shopping for a new home has lost considerable purchasing power, partly because of inflation and the Fed’s policy moves.

    But rates are already significantly lower since hitting 8% in October. Now, the average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage is 6.9%, up from 4.4% when the Fed started raising rates in March 2022 and 3.27% at the end of 2021, according to Bankrate.

    Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae, expects mortgage rates will dip below 6% in 2024 but will not return to their pandemic-era lows, which is little consolation for would-be homebuyers.

    “We don’t see the affordability problem solved until supply increases substantially, interest rates come down and real incomes rise,” he said. “The combination of those things need to move together over time. It’s not going to be sudden.”

    Auto loans

    Even though auto loans are fixed, consumers are increasingly facing monthly payments that they can barely afford due to higher vehicle prices and elevated interest rates on new loans.

    The average rate on a five-year new car loan is now more than 7%, up from 4% when the Fed started raising rates, according to Edmunds. However, rate cuts from the Fed will take some of the edge off the rising cost of financing a car — possibly bringing rates below 7% — helped in part by competition between lenders and more incentives in the market.

    “There are some very encouraging signs as we kick off 2024,” said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds’ head of insights.

    “Incentives are slowly coming back as inventory improves,” she said, and “most consumers are looking for low APRs with longer loan terms, so the growth in those loans is helpful to lure consumers who have been sitting out due to adverse financing and pricing conditions.”

    Savings rates

    While the central bank has no direct influence on deposit rates, the yields tend to be correlated to changes in the target federal funds rate.

    As a result, top-yielding online savings account rates have made significant moves and are now paying more than 5% — the most savers have been able to earn in nearly two decades — up from around 1% in 2022, according to Bankrate.

    Although those rates have likely maxed out, “it will be another good year for savers even if we do see rates come down,” McBride said. According to his forecast, the highest-yielding offers on the market will still be at 4.45% by year-end.

    Now is the time to lock in certificates of deposit, especially maturities longer than one year, he advised. “CD yields have peaked and have begun to pull back so there is no advantage to waiting.”

    Currently, one-year CDs are averaging 1.75% but top-yielding CD rates pay over 5%, as good or better than a high-yield savings account.

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  • China’s manufacturing activity shrank for the fourth straight month in January

    China’s manufacturing activity shrank for the fourth straight month in January

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    Banknotes of Renminbi arranged for photography on July 03 2018 in Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

    S3studio | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    China’s factory activity contracted for a fourth consecutive month in January, underscoring the much-needed litany of policy support for the world’s second-largest economy which Beijing announced last week.

    The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose slightly to 49.2 in January from 49 in December, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics released Wednesday. It was in line with the median forecast in a Reuters poll.

    The official non-manufacturing managers’ index rose to 50.7 in January from 50.4 in December, according to NBS. Strength in the country’s services industry helped offset weakness in the construction sector amid a slump in the real estate sector.

    A PMI reading above 50 indicates expansion in activity, while a reading below that level points to a contraction.

    Of the five sub-indexes for the manufacturing PMI, new orders marginally increased, though production jumped 1.1 percentage points.

    Employment for both non-manufacturing and manufacturing sectors edged lower in December.

    The business activity index for the construction industry, included as part of the non-manufacturing PMI, stood at 53.9 a decrease of 3.0 percentage points.

    Spring Festival effect

    Zhao Qinghe, a senior statistician at China’s NBS, attributed the weakness in construction to factors such as low temperature in winter and the approaching Spring Festival holiday, which marks the start of industry’s off-peak season.

    The annual Spring Festival, also known as the Lunar New Year, starts Feb. 10 this year. China is typically shut down for the annual week-long holiday.

    The country’s migrant workers typically take off earlier to spend more time with their families in their hometowns, given that Spring Festival may be the only time in the year that some see their families.

    This is reflected in the increased propensity for travel and broader consumption demonstrated in January’s non-manufacturing PMI.

    The business activity index for the retail, road and air transportation, catering and other related industries have climbed into the expansion range, while those for railway transportation among others have jumped to 60 and more, Zhao said in a separate release.

    Policy stimulus

    Still, the broader economic outlook is a patchy one.

    Pan Gongsheng, the People’s Bank of China governor, unexpectedly announced last week a cut in the amount of liquidity that banks are required to hold as reserves.

    Later that day, Beijing released a fresh policy mandate aimed at easing the cash crunch for Chinese developers, which have struggled under the crackdown on the sector’s bloated debt.

    The property market slumped after Beijing clamped down on developers’ high reliance on debt for growth in 2020, weighing on consumer growth and the broader growth in the Chinese economy.

    The PBOC has said there’s room for further monetary policy easing. Reducing the reserve requirements that banks must maintain will increase the capacity for lenders to extend loans and spur spending in the broader economy.

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  • ‘Death Stranding Director’s Cut’ iPhone 15 Pro Review (in Progress) – Keep On Keeping On the Go – TouchArcade

    ‘Death Stranding Director’s Cut’ iPhone 15 Pro Review (in Progress) – Keep On Keeping On the Go – TouchArcade

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    After playing Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 4 Remake on iPhone 15 Pro for review, I was very excited and optimistic about Death Stranding Director’s Cut () because I love the game and wanted to see how the engine scaled for Apple hardware. Following its debut on PS4 back in 2019 where it was a stunning showcase for the console, it hit Windows PC in 2020 delivering various visual and performance improvements including new collaboration content. A year later, Death Stranding Director’s Cut was announced and released as a native PS5 game (with an upgrade path for existing PS4 owners) delivering many enhancements, new content, features, and more.

    The PS5 version is easily my favorite way to experience Death Stranding on the big screen, but I also enjoyed playing it on Steam Deck. The new content in this Director’s Cut was also offered on PC via an upgrade path in 2022. Two years since then, and with a sequel having been announced, Kojima Productions has brought Death Stranding Director’s Cut to modern Apple hardware through 505 Games. I’ve played Death Stranding on PS4 and PC, Death Stranding Director’s Cut on PS5 and Steam Deck, and now Death Stranding Director’s Cut on iPhone 15 Pro for this review. I’ll be covering what makes this game so special and the port in this review.

    Death Stranding is an open world action game about connecting people, helping others, and delivering cargo across the United States. It is definitely not a game for everyone, especially if you’re used to the typical AAA releases we see each year. What set it apart from the rest is how it blended its amazing game world, narrative despite some pacing issues, incredible visuals, and addictive gameplay together. One other thing that stuck out to me was the superb use of licensed music. In a lot of ways, I enjoyed the non combat parts of Death Stranding the most. I’d love for an option to just play the game to help others and deliver cargo across the gorgeous locations rather than dealing with the stress from the combat encounters and boss fights. That’s where Death Stranding Director’s Cut comes into the picture to some degree. One of the highlights of the entire game was shown in one of the trailers. The moment you head towards Port Knot City. It has one of the best uses of licensed music in a game in recent times.

    Death Stranding Director’s Cut built upon the original with more items, a firing range, a race track, many new structures and traversal options making things easier, combat changes, full DualSense support, more graphics options on console, 21:9 support, new cosmetics, new quests, and more. It was a superb upgrade over the original and it even sold me on 21:9 for games more than most games I tried with that aspect ratio. Death Stranding Director’s Cut is basically the definitive version of Death Stranding and it is the version Kojima Productions and 505 Games have brought over to iPhone 15 Pro, iPad (M1 and later), and macOS (M1 and later).

    I haven’t had enough time with Death Stranding Director’s Cut for a full scored review yet, and I’ll be updating this once I’ve played more and also seen how it feels on my M1 MacBook Air. The few hours I’ve spent with it with a controller and replayed with touch controls have been interesting, but disappointing in parts. While I could manage touch controls for the Resident Evil games to some degree, I just wasn’t able to enjoy Death Stranding Director’s Cut with touch controls. You can customize them and use some presets, but it just isn’t fun despite the slight changes to how you interact with the triggers. One nice addition is gyro support which you can use with touch controls as well.

    On the controller side, I love that Death Stranding Director’s Cut lets you choose from multiple button prompt options regardless of your controller. You can opt for it to automatically change the button prompts or force it. I was surprised to see Death Stranding Director’s Cut also supports adaptive triggers to some degree. It isn’t as well-implemented as the PS5 version, but I don’t think any game wirelessly manages to do the same on mobile yet. Death Stranding Director’s Cut also feels perfect with a controller, but that wasn’t really surprising. I noticed an option for keyboard and mouse gameplay, but haven’t had a chance to test on any iPad yet.

    Death Stranding Director’s Cut on iPhone has no graphics options and targets 30fps, but doesn’t hold that target very well. It supports the iPhone 15 Pro’s full display aspect ratio and screen correctly though, and looks great in parts, but the performance is not as good as it should have been right now. I’m not sure if anything will change in a day one update, but the build I have doesn’t hold a locked 30fps. This iOS release also has the full photo mode included which you can invoke using the dedicated touchscreen button or the touchpad on the DualSense controller. For my review, I tested it with my Xbox Series X and DualSense controllers. I had no issues with either of them on the control side.

    Visually, Death Stranding Director’s Cut can look great on the iPhone 15 Pro screen, but it seems to vary in image quality. The opening hour in particular can look stunning on the screen. Performance isn’t perfect though as I said. Even the early moments where you walk across water see noticeable drops in frame rate. I also felt like it was more stable with the analog stick controls rather than touch controls. I’d recommend tweaking the camera movement speed to find a good compromise here. Given the visuals on display, I wasn’t expecting 60fps, but was hoping we’d see a stable 30fps at least. Even the Steam Deck can’t manage a locked 60fps, but I hope we see some improvements so the 30fps target is met more consistently here in updates.

    I mentioned helping other people in Death Stranding Director’s Cut, but this is a singleplayer game. The “Strand System” here is basically some things you build or leave behind in your world also appearing in other people’s game worlds. This also includes messages, ladders, hints, cargo left behind, and more. This is added over time so you don’t immediately start to see a crowded landscape. You can also give others likes or donate things for other players. This system of co-operation built up quite the community in Death Stranding, and the good news for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS users is that servers are shared between Apple devices, Steam, and Epic users who play Death Stranding Director’s Cut. This ensures there will be a lot to see in the game world.

    I will never write about Death Stranding without commenting on the music and audio. Not only is the original game score by Ludvig Forssell excellent, but the special licensed music is superb. I discovered Low Roar through Death Stranding, and I’ve been listening to them almost regularly since 2019. The Silent Poets song is also sublime, especially with the game location it plays in. I remember then doing a vinyl single for Death Stranding before the game even released, and I bought it because I believe in the project. I have no regrets, it is an amazing soundtrack that is worth listening to regardless of if you play Death Stranding or not.

    Death Stranding Director’s Cut on iPhone 15 Pro has been interesting to see on a technical level after loving the game on Steam Deck. It can’t do 60fps on Steam Deck without turning things way down, but I settled for either 30 or 40hz on Steam Deck with great visuals. If you have access to both devices, I’d definitely play Death Stranding Director’s Cut on Steam Deck, but if you do have a Backbone One or other external controller, the iPhone 15 Pro version at its lower pre-order price is worth checking out just to see how it looks and runs if you are curious to play it there. I imagine things are much better on the iPad side of things like with Resident Evil 4 Remake and even on the macOS side. I’ll be testing this on my MacBook Air soon.

    Just like Resident Evil 4 Remake, Death Stranding Director’s Cut is a universal purchase giving you the iPhone 15 Pro, iPadOS, and macOS versions in the single purchase you make. This makes it a much better value proposition overall, and has save data syncing across. I haven’t been able to get the pre-release build installed on the MacBook right now, but I will be testing it once the game is available worldwide to make sure save syncing works. If you are planning on getting Death Stranding Director’s Cut for iPhone 15 Pro, you need to download about 12.6GB after installing the game from the App Store. There are additional downloads as you progress through the story, and Kojima Productions mentions the total download size will be 50GB.

    In future Death Stranding Director’s Cut patches on iPhone 15 Pro, I’d love for some graphics options to maybe turn things down to get better performance, or for better touch controls like we see in games from Feral Interactive.

    While I need a bit more time to see how Death Stranding Director’s Cut feels later on, I can say that it is a very impressive conversion so far in parts that can look great on the iPhone 15 Pro screen. It isn’t ready for being the only way you experience the game though, at least right now based on the time I’ve put into it. I don’t recommend playing it with touch controls at all either, but if you have a Backbone One or external controller, it will be worth buying after the performance issues can be ironed out. The developers went the extra mile and even added some DualSense features into the release and even implemented gyro controls, but the performance issues hold this back right now.

    Death Stranding Director’s Cut iPhone 15 Pro Review Score: TBA

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    Mikhail Madnani

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  • Las Vegas’ first Super Bowl is driving record prices on the secondary ticket market

    Las Vegas’ first Super Bowl is driving record prices on the secondary ticket market

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    LAS VEGAS — Tickets on at least one secondary-market site were the most expensive in Super Bowl history on Monday, underscoring the anticipation of the game’s Las Vegas debut between the defending champion and what likely is the most popular team in the West.

    Oh, and the great possibility Taylor Swift will be on hand when the Kansas City Chiefs play the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 11.

    The average purchase price on TickPick was $9,815 on Monday morning. That’s nearly double the final average price of $5,795 for last year’s game between the Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles in Glendale, Arizona, although current prices could decline.

    It’s also more than the previous high of $7,046 for the 2021 game in Tampa, Florida, between the Buccaneers and the Chiefs. The stadium was at 33% capacity because of COVID-19 restrictions, increasing the demand for each ticket.

    Lions fans are licking their wounds after the team nearly came close to reaching their first Super Bowl appearance. But one fan will need to live with those results permanently.

    TickPick’s highest non-COVID Super Bowl was in 2020 at Miami Gardens, Florida, when the Chiefs and Niners met for the first time in the championship game. That average price was $6,370.

    The cheapest ticket on TickPick for this year’s game was $8,188 on Monday, more than the $5,997 low price at this point last year.

    “Location has always impacted demand for a Super Bowl, but Vegas takes things to a whole other level,” TickPick co-CEO Brett Goldberg said in a statement to The Associated Press. “It’s already the entertainment capital of the world, and could very well become the sports capital of the world after the Super Bowl.

    “With both teams having made at least one Super Bowl appearance in the past five years, we would typically expect there to be slight fatigue from fans, in turn causing prices to dip. Instead, we’re seeing demand hit record highs and a big driver being that fans want to experience their team winning a Super Bowl in Vegas.”

    StubHub was experiencing similar demand with an average price of tickets sold at $9,300 on Monday, though that trails the Super Bowl two years ago. The average at the same time was $9,797 for the game in Inglewood, California, when the hometown Los Angeles Rams were preparing to play the Cincinnati Bengals.

    The lowest-priced ticket on StubHub for this year’s game was $6,500.

    How Taylor Swift will get from her concert in Tokyo, Japan to watch Travis Kelce and the Chiefs play the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl.

    Sales on that website are 90% greater than last year at this time and 147% greater than the 2020 meeting between Kansas City and San Francisco.

    The convenient location for 49ers fans is helping drive demand, with California residents accounting for 26% of tickets sold on StubHub. That’s more than the combined tickets sold to those who live in Nevada (8%) and Kansas or Missouri (7%).

    “As predicted, the first Super Bowl in Vegas is seeing strong numbers – sales are nearly double this time last year and early demand has far surpassed the last time Kansas City and San Francisco met in Miami,” StubHub spokesman Adam Budelli said in a statement.

    Copyright © 2024 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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    AP

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