Mortgage rates dropped again this week, after plunging nearly half a percentage point last week. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.58% in the week ending November 23, down from 6.61% the week before, according to Freddie Mac. A year ago, the 30-year fixed rate was 3.10%. Mortgage rates have risen throughout most of 2022, spurred […]
London CNN Business — Last year, Auckland’s largest real estate company couldn’t sell properties quickly enough to meet demand in New Zealand’s biggest city. Houses were “flying out the door,” said Grant Sykes, a manager at real estate agency Barfoot & Thompson. “There were chin-dropping moments when agents stand around the room and are gobsmacked […]
New York CNN Business — In September, President Joe Biden, the most union friendly president in recent history, got personally involved in negotiations that reached a tentative labor deal that averted a strike at the nation’s major freight railroads. It was a deal he hailed as a “win for tens of thousands of rail workers.” […]
Hong Kong CNN Business — China has locked down a major transportation hub in the south, as the country grapples with its largest nationwide Covid outbreak since April. The lockdown also follows rising cases in Beijing, which reported the country’s first Covid deaths in nearly six months. In recent days, China had begun to ease […]
New York CNN Business — Investors sleuthing for clues about what the Federal Reserve will decide during its December policy meeting got quite a few this week. But those hints about the future of monetary policy point to an outcome they won’t be very happy about. What’s happening: Federal Reserve officials made a series of […]
London CNN Business — The UK government is hiking a windfall tax on oil and gas companies and extending the levy to electricity generators, as it scrambles to balance its budget amid an economic downturn. It is also investing in nuclear power for the first time in decades. UK finance minister Jeremy Hunt announced the […]
London CNN Business — The United Kingdom has already entered a recession and is battling decades-high inflation, eroding standards of living for millions of people across the country. Now, Britons must also stomach higher taxes and reductions to public services as the government tries to get its finances on more solid footing — underscoring the […]
Stocks and bonds have been turning in volatile, bearish performances this year in an economy marked by high inflation and rising interest rates. But that hasn’t deterred most retirement savers, especially the youngest ones. 401(k) participants have held relatively steady in their savings contribution rates and in their portfolio allocations, according to new third quarter […]
New York CNN Business — White collar workers would be hit harder than blue collar workers if the United States enters a recession soon, according to one economist, who said businesses have undergone a dramatic restructuring after the pandemic. “Covid shifted things around,” said William Lee, chief economist at the Milken Institute. The pandemic has […]
London CNN Business — The last time a British finance minister revealed tax and spending plans, markets went haywire and the country’s prime minister ultimately lost her job. The new government is not looking for a repeat performance. On Thursday, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is due to unveil a budget that will aim to restore confidence […]