The newly appointed head of one of the nation’s top housing regulators is moving quickly to reshape not only the agency but also Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-controlled mortgage finance giants he oversees. The Federal Housing Finance Agency, now under the direction of William Pulte, placed 35 unionized employees on administrative leave … Read more
Jeffrey Bruce Klein, one of four journalists who in 1976 founded the magazine Mother Jones, rooting it in the crusading left-wing politics of the 1960s, and who returned in 1992 as editor in chief to rebrand it for younger, more digital readers, died on March 13 at his home in Menlo Park, Calif. He was … Read more
Tesla is recalling nearly all of its futuristic-style Cybertrucks after it found that an exterior trim panel was falling off and creating hazardous driving conditions, the company said on Thursday. This is the eighth recall for the model. The recall of about 46,000 vehicles includes all models that were manufactured from Nov. 13, 2023, when … Read more
Disney knew that remaking “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” as a live-action musical would be treacherous. But the studio was feeling cocky. It was 2019, and Disney was minting money at the box office by “reimagining” animated classics like “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Jungle Book” as movies with real actors. The … Read more
When inflation was too high and the economy was resilient in the aftermath of the pandemic, the Federal Reserve’s decision to sharply raise interest rates beginning in 2022 seemed like a no-brainer. The same was true just over two years later when inflation had fallen sharply from its recent peak and the labor market had … Read more
Britons are bracing for a burst of higher inflation for much of this year as many household bills jump next month, a revival of the cost-of-living pressures that have squeezed household budgets in recent years. Next month, the average annual energy bill is set to rise 6.4 percent as the price cap resets. Water bills, … Read more
“Transitory” is back Jay Powell wants businesses and investors to know: The Fed chair shares their concerns about President Trump’s tariff skirmishes as the economic outlook dims. But there is a silver lining, he said Wednesday at a news conference. Tariff-driven inflation is likely to be “transitory” and just for this year. That’s the “base … Read more
For office landlords, a bad dream that began in March 2020 seems to finally be nearing an end — but only if you’re in well-located, high-end properties in major U.S. markets. Sales of office buildings across the country totaled $64.3 billion last year, up nearly 21 percent from 2023, according to MSCI Real Assets, a … Read more
Elon Musk declared last month that the federal government was engaged in “utterly insane” activity, claiming without evidence that it had distributed $100 billion to people without Social Security numbers. Two days after Mr. Musk’s comments, one of his key lieutenants, Steve Davis, began pressing the Social Security Administration for information. Mr. Davis called the … Read more
The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday for a second straight meeting. The March meeting was the central bank’s most direct acknowledgment to date that President Trump’s policies are set to have a real impact on the economy, stoking significant uncertainty about where inflation, growth and — ultimately — interest rates are headed. … Read more