Economic News

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) -- Soaring gasoline prices shattered U.S. consumers' economic confidence in early May. With retail gasoline prices jumping more than 50 cents in the past two months, consumers' views about the current economic situation plunged in early May at the fastest rate in at least 28 years, researchers at the University of Michigan said Friday. The University of Michigan consum ...

Government bond prices remained under pressure this week with the economic centres of the US, UK, eurozone and Japan all continuing their focus on curbing inflationary pressures. // US Treasury yields rose and the difference between long and short-dated paper increased, amid fears of inflation and the possibility that price pressures could yet push the Federal Reserve to raise rates further. The latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting ended on Wednesday with the expected quarter point inc ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Policymakers are confident that the economy has clearly emerged from a soft patch early last year, Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member David Walton was quoted as saying on Friday. Walton was quoted as saying in the Northern Echo regional newspaper that there were also encouraging signs that manufacturers were seeing a pick-up in orders. "I think we have a clearer picture of the economy than we did a few months ago," Walton said in the newspaper article, which ap ...

LONDON (Reuters) - The country's economy probably grew by 0.6 percent in the three months to April, economic think tank NIESR said on Friday, with steady growth and price pressures warranting an imminent rise in interest rates from 4.5 percent. The latest growth estimate from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research was the same as in the previous two months and is in line with the official growth rate recorded for the first three months of the year. "Given growth at its trend ra ...

Public confidence in Labour’s handling of the economy and public services has plunged to its lowest level since the start of the Iraq war, according to research. // The findings of the latest Deloitte/Ipsos Mori delivery index are a blow to Tony Blair as he seeks to put Labour’s disastrous local election result and the internal party ructions over the transition of power to Gordon Brown to one si ...

Treasurys closed lower Thursday after the auction of 10-year notes attracted little interest from foreign buyers, leaving more fresh supply in the market. Earlier, U.S. Treasurys had briefly rallied on a weaker-than-expected April retail sales report before turning lower on speculation the data would have little impact on the Federal Reserve's interest rate policy. The 10-year auction attrac ...

The U.S. dollar turned lower Thursday, hitting a fresh one-year low vs. the euro, as the uncertain outlook for interest rates failed to stem the bearish sentiment in the market. The euro was last at a one-year high of $1.2845 vs. the U.S. dollar, up 0.3% from $1.2801 in late trading in New York on Wednesday, and the highest price seen since May 11, 2005. Earlier in the session, the euro had bee ...

Weak US retail sales data wiped out an early dollar rally on Thursday. The greenback had initially recovered some lost ground after the US Treasury stepped back from the brink of branding China a currency cheat. // In an aggressively-worded twice-yearly foreign exchange report, the Treasury said it was “extremely dissatisfied” with the pace of reform, and would continue to “actively and frankly press China to quicken the pace of renminbi flexibility”. But the Treasury stopped short of formally ...

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) - U.S. retail sales increased 0.5% in April, but most of the increased spending was at the gas pump, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Gasoline sales surged 4.6% in April as the price rose toward $3 a gallon. Excluding gasoline sales, seasonally adjusted retail sales rose 0.1% in April. The figures are not adjusted for inflation. Auto sales fell 0.4% in April. Exc ...

Treasurys rose then fell back early Thursday as traders concluded that a weaker-than-expected April retail sales report will have little impact on the Federal Reserve's interest rate policy. The 10-year note was last trading down 6/32 at 94 31/32, yielding 5.163%, compared with 5.127% late Wednesday. The yield (TNX) spiked down to 5.117% in an initial response to the data. The 30-year bond w ...