Interest Rates

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has announced a strategy to reduce long-term interest rates, focusing on lowering the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield. His plan, independent of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy, emphasizes deregulation, tax cuts, and significant reductions in federal spending to stabilize interest rates and ease inflation. Bessent explained that fiscal policy adjustments, such as cutting wasteful government spending, could encourage economic growth without triggering inflation.

Kohl's has announced it will close 27 underperforming stores across the U.S. by April 2025, representing less than 3% of its over 1,150 locations.

With less than a week until Inauguration Day, former President Donald Trump’s team is rallying support for his “Make America Wealthy Again” (MAWA) agenda, a continuation of his America First policies. In a video released to Breitbart News, Trump lays out his promises to reduce costs and reinvigorate the economy by prioritizing energy independence, cutting taxes, and fighting inflation.

Macy’s has announced plans to close 66 underperforming stores this year as part of its Bold New Chapter strategy, which includes closing about 150 underproductive locations over a three-year period.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen acknowledged in a CNBC interview that the Biden administration's pandemic stimulus spending may have contributed “a little bit” to inflation.

Two children were found abandoned at the southern border with a note to give to authorities.

American credit card defaults have surged to the highest levels since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, as consumers continue to grapple with years of high inflation. In the first three quarters of 2024, credit card lenders wrote off $46 billion in delinquent loan balances, marking a 50 percent increase from the same period last year. These write-offs, considered a highly monitored measure of loan distress, are the highest since 2010, according to industry data gathered by BankRegData.

Big Lots announced that it will begin its Going Out of Business (GOB) sales at all its stores.

U.S. stocks fell sharply on Wednesday, erasing earlier gains after the Federal Reserve announced a 25 basis point rate cut and projected a slower pace of rate reductions for next year.

The Federal Reserve made its third consecutive interest rate cut on Wednesday, reducing its benchmark rate by a quarter of a percentage point. The move, widely anticipated by investors and financial markets, brings the federal funds rate to a target range of 4.25 percent to 4.50 percent. Since beginning its rate cuts in September, the Fed has now lowered rates by a total of 100 basis points, or one percentage point.