Breaking News

Powell says Federal Reserve can wait on any interest rate moves

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve can stay patient and wait to see how tariffs and other economic policies of the Trump administration play out before making any changes to interest rates, Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday. “As that great Chicagoan Ferris Bueller once noted, ‘Life moves pretty fast,’” Powell said in a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago. “For the time being, we are well positioned to wait for greater clarity” on the impact of policy changes in areas such as immigration, taxation, regulation, and tariffs, Powell said. The sharp volatility in ...

Strange sell-off in the dollar raises the specter of investors losing trust in the US under Trump

NEW YORK (AP) — Among the threats tariffs pose to the U.S. economy, none may be as strange as the sell-off in the dollar. Currencies rise and fall all the time because of inflation fears, central bank moves and other factors. But economists worry that the recent drop in the dollar is so dramatic that it reflects something more ominous as President Donald Trump tries to reshape global trade: a loss of confidence in the U.S. The dollar’s dominance in cross-border trade and as a safe haven has been nurtured by administrations of both parties for decades because it helps keep U.S. ...

Dollar Tree offloads Family Dollar chain for $1 billion, ending a decade-long effort to find a fit

Dollar Tree’s decade-long effort to fold the Family Dollar chain into its business is ending after agreeing to sell the bargain store chain to a pair of private equity firms for $1 billion. Dollar Tree Inc. bought Family Dollar with its over 7,000 stores 10 years ago for more than $8 billion. Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said that Dollar Tree struggled with supply chain issues, poor store locations and other operational difficulties ever since making the acquisition. “Basically, Dollar Tree bit off far more than it could chew,” he said. Last year Dollar ...