After a dizzying two weeks that saw a rapid plunge and rebound in equity prices, investors are looking forward to a week of economic data that may provide clarity on the likelihood of a near-term U.S. interest rate hike and help tamp down the market’s recent wild swings. The economic figures will culminate in Friday’s jobs report that should reveal more about the strength of the U.S. economy. Car sales,
The Federal Reserve could have cut short the Great Recession by a year if it had set a 4 percent inflation target in 1984, but raising the target now would probably do little to help the economy, researchers said on Saturday. Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren and Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota recently have floated raising the U.S. central bank’s current 2 percent inflation target to give it more room
For much of her tenure as head of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen has been pressured by Republican lawmakers who want the U.S. central bank to adopt a monetary policy rule, a straightforward formula connecting unemployment and inflation to a benchmark interest rate. On Saturday a Yellen ally and former adviser at the Fed delivered a provocative retort: the economic models underpinning those simple rules don’t work that well, and
A form of debt restructuring rather than outright forgiveness should enable Greece to handle its “unviable” debt burden, the head of the International Monetary Fund was quoted as telling a Swiss newspaper. The IMF has yet to make clear if it will participate in the third 86-billion-euro ($96 billion) international bailout that Greece signed up to in early August, having argued in favor of a partial writedown of a debt
Syngenta AG (SYNN.VX) may seek partners to help improve its product lineup after a thorough review in the wake of a rebuffed takeover approach from Monsanto Co (MON.N), the agrichemicals group’s chairman told a Swiss newspaper. Syngenta’s board is under pressure from shareholders to show how it plans to generate value after turning its back on Monsanto’s $47 billion cash-and-share offer, which it said undervalued the company and had too
The owner of adultery website Ashley Madison had already been struggling to sell itself or raise funds for at least three years before the publication of details about its members, according to internal documents and emails also released by hackers as part of their assault on the company in recent weeks. Avid Life Media announced on Friday that CEO Noel Biderman, who founded the website in 2001, had left the company
The Federal Reserve on Friday left the door open to a September interest rate hike even while several U.S. central bank officials acknowledged that turmoil in financial markets, if prolonged, could delay the first policy tightening in nearly a decade. Some top policymakers, including Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer, said recent volatility in global markets could quickly ease and possibly pave the way for the U.S. rate hike, for which
On Thursday the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled the owner of a California recycling plant was a “joint employer” with the contractor that hired workers at the plant, essentially forcing both to bargain with the union together or risk violating U.S. labor law. Business groups, arguing that the ruling could lead to higher costs and hurt the economy, are pushing the Republican-led Congress to overturn it, in part it
Myanmar has set a minimum wage of 3,600 kyat ($2.80) for an eight-hour work day, a move likely to boost investment in the fast-growing country’s garment industry. The decision on a minimum wage, which follows two years of often acrimonious debate between garment factory owners and labor unions, was announced on Saturday. Myanmar’s government has targeted garments for rapid growth, and Saturday’s statement may help spur this, as it gives
In 2009, Eugene Kaspersky, co-founder of one of the world’s top security companies, told some of his lieutenants that they should attack rival antivirus software maker AVG Technologies N.V. (AVG.N) by “rubbing them out in the outhouse,” one of several previously undisclosed emails shows. Former employees say that the reprisal Kaspersky was pushing for was to trick AVG’s antivirus software into producing false positives – that is, misclassifying clean computer