Economic News

| Turkey concedes inflation target will not be metBy Vincent Boland in AnkaraPublished: June 14 2006 20:27 | Last updated: June 14 2006 20:27Turkey’s central bank said on Wednesday that the battle to meet its inflation target this year had been lost and it hinted at more interest rate increases if investors continued to bail out of Turkish financial markets. // The admission came as the governmen ...

By Tim Ahmann WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rising rents pushed up U.S. core consumer prices a steep 0.3 percent for a third straight month in May, according to a government report on Wednesday that cemented expectations of higher interest rates. Overall consumer prices rose an even swifter 0.4 percent, as surging energy costs continued to pressure U.S. households, the Labour Department report showed. The rise in the overall consumer price index matched expectations on Wall Street, but economists ha ...

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) -- The economy continued to expand in most regions of the country in May and early June, but there are signs of a slowdown, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday in the Beige Book report on economic conditions. Price pressures were rising in most regions, the Fed said. Wage pressures were said to be moderate. "Economic activity continued to expand" in all 12 Federal Reser ...

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) -- Members of the Senate Banking Committee cleared Wednesday the nominations of five financial and banking officials, sending nominees including the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve on to the full Senate for final approval. The committee members approved the nominations of Donald Kohn to be Fed vice chairman, Kathleen Casey to be a member of the Securities and Exchang ...

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) -- Led by a quirky rise in shelter costs, U.S. core inflation increased 0.3% for the third month in a row in May, putting pressure on the Federal Reserve to keep raising interest rates. The consumer price index increased 0.4% in May, led by higher energy and shelter costs, the Labor Department said Wednesday. The increase matched expectations. However, core prices -- w ...

Despite recent growth in the US, there are signs the economy could be slowing down, the US Federal Reserve has said. While overall economic activity grew between April and June, consumers are showing signs of caution as energy prices rise, the Fed's Beige Book said. Particularly hard hit are lower income families, as sales at low price discount stores weakened. The Beige Book, based on information from 12 regional Federal Banks aims to give a snapshot of the US economy. "High gasoline prices ...

Treasuries dropped and yields jumped on Wednesday after pivotal data showed inflation rising at a stronger pace than expected. // The data led the market to fully price in a quarter-point rate rise to 5.25 per cent in June, and more than a 40 per cent chance of a further move in August. The result was a deepening of the inversion of the yield curve. Just after the release of the data, 10-year yi ...

The dollar weakened across the board Wednesday after traders viewed hotter- than-expected core inflation data as not strong enough to extend the dollar's recent rally. "The bottom line is the dollar is basically overbought," said David Solin, a partner at Foreign Exchange Analytics. "If you long dollars, you get a piece of data like that and the dollar is unable to reach new highs. People with  ...

E-Trade trading volume, customer assets fall in May NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- E-Trade Financial reported that its total client retail assets slipped 5% in May from April levels as stock markets fell and its clients traded less. The online financial-services firm (ET) said total client retail assets stood at $184.2 billion at the end of May. The company said its total daily average revenue trades ...

The US dollar handed back a slice of its recent gains in European morning trade on Wednesday as the currency market braced for all-important US inflation data due later in the session. // The dollar has risen steadily for the past seven trading days, helped both by a rush for the exits from higher risk assets and by mounting expectations that the Federal Reserve has not yet finished raising rates. As of Wednesday the futures market was pricing in an 88 per cent probability that the Fed will ra ...