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Why the threat of an oil shock looms over the Ukraine crisis

Western sanctions on Russian oil and gas are off the table, at least for now. But prices are already soaring.

US consumer spending tops forecasts even as inflation jumps

Purchases of goods and services, adjusted for changes in prices, increased 1.5 percent from December, the most in 10 months, according to Commerce Department figures Friday.

Financial markets shake off Ukraine invasion, but economic dangers still loom

Together Russia and Ukraine account for a tiny slice of global economic output, but the fallout from Russia’s use of force still poses a threat to American consumers and businesses.

US stocks fall, oil prices surge with Ukraine invasion

After falling about 2 percent shortly after the 9:30 a.m. market open, the major indexes regained some ground.

Fed eyes rate hike soon and faster tightening pace if needed
Officials concluded at their January meeting that inflation was running too high as the economy closed in on full employment, warranting a hike in the benchmark interest rate soon.

With Omicron on the wane, consumers edge back out into the world, but carefully
There’s a growing sense that COVID may finally become endemic like the flu. But the shift in mentality has made people question what a more-normal world means for their wallets.

Latest Headlines in Economy

A worker carried a roasted pig at a market ahead of the Lunar New Year in Phnom Penh on January 31, 2022, which ushered in the Year of the Tiger on February 1.

World’s poor endangered by record high food prices

Food prices have skyrocketed globally because of disruptions in the global supply chain, adverse weather and rising energy prices, increases that are imposing a heavy burden on poorer people around the world and threatening to stoke social unrest.

Larry Edelman
Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell.

Federal Reserve is ready to boost interest rates in March as inflation worsens

“There is quite a bit of room to raise interest rates without hurting the labor market,” Fed chairman Jerome Powell said.

A for sale sign was posted on a home in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022.

Home prices reach record high in new year

Consumers who resolved to buy a home in 2022 may have been dreaming of a reprieve from ever-climbing home prices, but so far, those dreams aren't coming true. A new report from Redfin real estate brokerage found that median home sales prices reached a record high during the week ending Jan. 9.

Consumers shopped at a retail store in Vernon Hills, Ill. on, Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021.

Increased inflation tightens squeeze on consumers

Retail sales took an unexpected dip in December in what could be a signal that persistently rising inflation is prompting a pullback in consumer spending.

Median wages in the US increased in 2021 but not enough to account for the rise of inflation. When balanced out, the average income matched the pre-pandemic levels of 2019.

2021 US minimum wage increased but not enough with inflation; numbers vary by gender and race

Weekly earnings of US full-time workers picked up at the end of 2021 from a year earlier, but significantly less than inflation, government figures showed Wednesday.

Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Klaus Schwab, listened to Chinese President Xi Jinping, who spoke remotely at the opening of the WEF Davos Agenda.

China calls for building an open world economy to create better post-COVID society

Building an open world economy, embracing cooperation against the pandemic and revitalizing global development – the three aspects highlighted in Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at the WEF virtual session on Monday – are clues to the answer, as well as the solutions to other major global challenges.

A hiring sign stands outside a King Soopers grocery store Saturday Dec. 18, 2021, in southeast Denver.

US initial jobless claims rose to highest since mid-November

Initial unemployment claims totaled 230,000 in the week ended Jan. 8, up 23,000 from the prior period, Labor Department data showed Thursday.

A customer shops in the dairy section of a grocery store in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021.

Inflation in US registers biggest annual gain since 1982

Consumer prices soared last year by the most in nearly four decades, illustrating red-hot inflation that sets the stage for the start of Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes as soon as March.