The Federal Reserve is taking a wait-and-see approach on the monetary policy front. After cutting the federal funds rate by a full percentage point last fall, the central bank kept the benchmark rate steady at the first two Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings of 2025. The lead bank is likely to maintain this stance over the next few months, as it assesses the impact of the Trump Administration’s tariff policies on the pace of...

The Federal Reserve received some positive news on the inflation front. After the February Consumer Price Index (CPI) came in cooler than expected, the Labor Department’s companion report on producer prices showed an even sharper decline in the pace of price growth at the wholesale level. Of note, the Producer Price Index (PPI) was unchanged last month after climbing 0.4% in January. Likewise, the core PPI, which excludes the energy and food components, was up...

The nation added 151,000 jobs in February. That figure was modestly below the consensus forecast of 160,000, but relatively in line with the 12-month average of 168,000. It was accompanied by a slight uptick in the unemployment rate, to 4.1%, last month. In all, the report suggested that the labor market is still quite balanced. The February Consumer Price Index (CPI) report showed a modest easing in the pace of price growth. Specifically, both the...