Fri, Feb 24, 2023 8:36am EST
The Fed’s Mester says interest rates must exceed 5% to suppress inflation
Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said Friday that interest rates need to go even higher for inflation to fall.
“My view is that we’re going to have to raise interest rates above 5%,” she told CNBC correspondent Steve Laiseman during an interview on “Squawk Box.” “We’ll determine how much of that is above. It will depend on how the economy evolves over time. But I think we have to be somewhat above 5% and stay there for a while in order to push inflation onto a sustainable downward path to 2%.”
Meester recently made news when she revealed that she was among a small group of Federal Reserve officials on Jan-Feb 31. 1 Federal Open Market Committee, wanted to raise the interest rate by half a percentage point instead of the quarter-point move approved by the committee.
– Jeff Cox
one hour ago
China Renaissance says Bao Fan is cooperating with a government investigation
Missing Chinese investment banker Bao Fan is cooperating with a government investigation, his company China Renaissance said in a statement on Sunday.
“The board has learned that Mr. Bao is currently cooperating with an investigation being conducted by some authorities in the People’s Republic of China,” the company said, noting that its business operations remain normal.
Shares of Hong Kong-listed China Renaissance have fallen 29% since the company said on February 16 that it was unable to access Bao. He is the controlling shareholder of the company, CEO and founder, among other roles.
– Evelyn Cheng
one hour ago
Next week in Asia: PMI readings, growth, inflation and purchases
Regional readings of Japan’s PMI, Industrial Production and Australia’s GDP will be some of the most important economic events this week.
New Zealand is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter retail sales on Monday while Taiwan celebrates Peace Memorial Day through Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Japan is due to report its industrial production and retail sales while Australia is to report its current account for the fourth quarter.
India will also announce its fourth-quarter gross domestic product on Tuesday. Overnight, the US Consumer Confidence for February will also be released.
South Korea market will be closed on March 1 to celebrate the Independence Movement Day.
On Wednesday, the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics will release its government reading of the PMI after it showed a return to growth of 50.1 in January.
Australia will release its inflation and gross domestic product reading for the fourth quarter. Economists polled by Reuters expect to see growth of a seasonally adjusted 2.8% year on year.
Indonesia will also release its consumer price index for February, which is expected to have risen to 5.42% from a previous reading of 5.28%, according to a Reuters poll.
On Thursday, trade data for the fourth quarter will be released from New Zealand as well as South Korea’s industrial production and retail sales. The S&P Global Manufacturing PMI for South Korea is also scheduled to be released.
Japan’s unemployment rate for January is forecast on Friday at 2.5% for January, according to a Reuters poll. The Tokyo CPI for all items except fresh food is expected to have increased 3.3% for the month of January.
– Jihe Lee
Friday, February 24, 2023, 3:16 PM EST
Investors need to “control what they can control,” Bird says.
The market is currently seeing the effects of “a lot of good news at once,” according to Baird analyst Ross Mayfield. With inflation still rising and the Federal Reserve expected to continue raising interest rates, Mayfield advises investors to “control what happens.” [they] can control.”
“First, automate things: dollar cost averaging (investing across regularly scheduled periods) is a great way to spot outperformance in volatile/sideways markets,” Mayfield wrote in a note on Friday.
“Second, revisit your allocation to make sure you’re well diversified and planned.”
– Hakyung Kim
Friday, February 24, 2023, 4:05 PM EST
Stocks are closing in on the worst week of the year
US stocks closed lower on Friday, capping their worst week of 2023.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 336 points, or 1.0%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell 1.0% and 1.7%, respectively. The Dow Jones fell as much as 510 points, or 1.54%, earlier in the trading session.
– Hakyung Kim