All right, we'll fetch your jerome Powell saying that
the U. S. Central bank can avoid a
recession but that it's getting more difficult to do.
So. The Fed chair did acknowledge that the central
bank understands better now how little it understands inflation.
While americans grapple with the steepest pace of price gains
in four decades. Still Powell describing the economy as
strong in remarks at the european Central Bank's annual policy
forum today and that it can withstand higher monetary policy
from the Fed with more aggressive rate hikes. Our
aim is to is to have growth moderate it's a
sort of a necessary adjustment that needs to happen so
that again supply can catch up, it could be
supply of workers, it could be it could be
time for the supply chains to you know to improve
. So the sense of that is that if we
can get right now, supply and demand are really
out of balance in many parts of the US economy
. Labor market being a big example of that we
need to get them better in balance so that inflation
can come down well. The U. S.
Central bank and central banks around the world are working
to cut down inflation which does remain historically high around
the world. But it was just recently that Powell
said even raising rates won't directly impact food prices or
prices at the pump which are sending the price of
overall inflation higher. And speaking of rate rises.
Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester saying that she plans to
push for another interest rate hike of three quarters of
a percentage point of 75 basis points at the Fed's
july meeting. If the current economic situation remains unchanged
by then, the Fed earlier this month, raising
interest rates by three quarters of a percent. That's
the biggest rate hike in a single meeting since 1990
for in order to combat high inflation. Well,
Mr expecting the FOMC to discuss raising rates by either
half of a percent or three quarters of a percentage
point when it does meet just under a month from
now. And here's the important data, more economic
data out this morning showing that the U. S
. Economy shrank more in the first quarter than previously
reported. The third and final GDP reading for the
first quarter showed a 1.6% annualized decline in economic growth
. Well, this past quarter was the first time
that GDP drops in spring of 2020 when the pandemic
first hit. And the latest figure does represent an
economic slowdown. While the country deals with ongoing supply
chain disruptions and a record trade deficit painting a grim
picture amid recession fears and the Fed raising rates to
combat inflation, a recession is technically two straight quarters
of negative GDP growth, that's an economic contraction.
And so if we do contract here in the second
quarter, which officially ends tomorrow, that would be
the technical definition of a recession. The mortgage demand
essentially flat this week, even as rates briefly tick
lower the average rate for a 30 year fixed mortgage
. that's the most popular, falling by more than
1/10 of a percent And rates skyrocketing to around 6%
over the past few weeks. While his rates briefly
dipped, refinance, demand was up a little bit
, but still down 80% from the same time a
year ago. Overall applications for a new mortgage were
flat down a whopping 24% from last year and bed
bath and beyond. Ceo. Mark Triton stepping down
the company announcing the news as part of its latest
quarterly earnings release, where it reported a major miss
on sales and profit at the executive tasked with leading
the retailer's turnaround will be replaced in the interim by
an independent board director. Sue Gov will be responsible
for reversing those weak results, saying in a statement
that she's keenly aware of macroeconomic issues like inflation and
changing customer spending habits. Well, Bed bath and
beyond has been struggling as of late, like many
of its retail peers with higher costs and supply chain 00:03:53.759 --> disruptions