Economy
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Student loan ‘train wreck’: As return of regular payments loom, servicers have less staff to field expected deluge of calls
Borrowers are slated to resume student loan payments in a few months and if they need help, it may be harder to get someone on the phone than in the recent past. In documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nelnet NNI, -0.18%, a publicly traded company that owns two major student loan servicers,…
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Big bank earnings in spotlight following historic failures: ‘Every income statement line item is in flux’.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, -0.11%, Citigroup Inc. C, +0.20% and Wells Fargo & Co. WFC, +2.74% — along with PNC Financial Services Group Inc. PNC, +0.37% and BlackRock Inc. BLK, +0.05% — report earnings Friday as Wall Street’s fixation on a recession continues to run deep. And following the implosion of Silicon Valley Bank…
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Robert Shiller: Home prices are ‘very, very high,’ but might get cheaper in six months
“‘Home prices are very, very high by historical standards’” That was Yale economist Robert Shiller talking about the current state of the housing market during a March interview on on CNBC Overtime. Shiller, a researcher at the National Bureau of Economic Research, helped create the Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, which are leading trackers of the U.S.…
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4 things could shield stocks as Goldman warns of worst earnings season since pandemic
The outlook for corporate profits during the first quarter is looking pretty gloomy. But a team of analysts at Goldman Sachs Group see hope for individual companies that could manage to buck the trend by delivering on four areas of critical importance to investors. Analysts cut their outlook pretty aggressively as the economic outlook deteriorated…
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Jobs report shows 236,000 gain in March — lifting 2023 total above 1 million — but U.S. labor market shows hints of cooling
The numbers: The U.S. added a robust 236,000 new jobs in March, defying the Federal Reserve’s hopes for a big slowdown in hiring as the central bank struggles to tame inflation. The consensus economist forecast called for a nonfarm-payrolls expansion of 238,000. The solid increase in employment last month followed a revised 326,000 gain in…
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Thinking about investing in alternatives? Ask these 6 questions first.
After a year like 2022, when both stocks and bonds went down, it was pretty much a slam dunk that Wall Street would step up the marketing of alternative assets that might act differently — the next time around. A new report from consulting firm Escalent says 70% of financial advisers now hold alternatives in…
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How much do you need to earn to afford a $500,000 home? Here is the answer.
April is National Financial Literacy Month. To mark the occasion, MarketWatch will publish a series of “Financial Fitness” articles to help readers improve their fiscal health, and offer advice on how to save, invest and spend their money wisely. Read more here. Let’s pick a round number. How much money do you need to make to…
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Traders see virtually no chance interest rates will end up where Fed thinks in 2023
Concerns that the U.S. might be approaching a recession have traders expecting interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year, despite policy makers’ projections from March that signal otherwise. While the median estimate from Fed policy makers points to the likelihood that rates will need to end the year slightly above where they are…
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Bond yields log biggest daily gain in about 2 weeks as jobs report seen boosting Fed rate-hike chances
Treasury yields rose sharply in holiday-abbreviated trading Friday, though rates still concluded the week lower overall, after employment data for March was seen boosting the chances of another Federal Reserve interest-rate hike next month. What happened What drove markets The U.S. economy added 236,000 new jobs in March, in line with expectations for an increase…
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Dow futures flip higher after March jobs report in thin Good Friday trading
U.S. stock-index futures turned higher in a holiday-shortened session after a solid March jobs report, though investors won’t fully digest the data until next week with cash trading in equities closed due to the Good Friday holiday. Trading in stock-index futures closed at 9:15 a.m. Eastern. Stock-index futures resume trading at their regular time, 6…