Biden picks Michael Barr for Fed’s bank regulation post
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says he plans to nominate Michael Barr to be the Federal Reserve’s vice chairman of supervision. Barr’s selection comes after Biden’s first choice for the Fed post, Sarah Bloom Raskin, withdrew her nomination a month ago in the face of opposition from Republicans and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia for her views on climate change. Biden notes the importance of politics in a Friday statement saying his nominee had previously cleared the Senate on a bipartisan basis. Barr is the dean of the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Barr was an assistant Treasury secretary for financial institutions during the Obama administration.
Elon Musk wants to buy Twitter, make it ‘maximally trusted’
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter outright. He says the social media platform “needs to be transformed” from his perspective as a self-identified “free-speech absolutist.” Musk is currently Twitter’s biggest individual shareholder. The company says in a regulatory filing that he has proposed buying the remaining shares of Twitter that he doesn’t already own at $54.20 per share. It’s an offer worth more than $43 billion. Twitter said it will decide whether accepting Musk’s offer is in the best interests of shareholders. The platform was established in 2006 and has established restrictions on both tweets and users under certain conditions.
Asian shares fall, trading muted with Good Friday, holidays
TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares have fallen in muted trading as most world markets were closed for Good Friday and other holidays. Energy trading was also closed for the day. Shutdowns in major Chinese cities due to coronavirus outbreaks and the war in Ukraine were weighing on sentiment. After markets closed, China’s central bank freed up extra money for lending by lowering the amount of reserves commercial banks are required to hold. On Thursday, the head of the International Monetary Fund warned that Russia’s war against Ukraine was darkening the outlook for most countries and reaffirmed the danger high inflation presents to the global economy.
IMF chief: Ukraine war and inflation threaten global economy
WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the International Monetary Fund warned that Russia’s war against Ukraine was weakening the economic prospects for most of the world’s countries and called high inflation “a clear and present danger’’ to the global economy. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the consequences of Russia’s invasion were contributing to economic downgrades for 143 countries, although most of them will continue to grow. The war has disrupted global trade in energy and grain and is threatening to cause food shortages in Africa and Middle East. Georgieva made her comments in remarks prepared for a speech on the eve of next week’s spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Washington.
US jobless claims rise but remain near a half-century low
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking unemployment benefits ticked up last week but remained at a historically low level, reflecting a robust U.S. labor market with near record-high job openings and few layoffs. Jobless claims rose by 18,000 to 185,000, the Labor Department said, after nearly touching the lowest level since 1968 in the previous week. The four-week average of claims, which levels out week-to-week ups and downs, edged up from 170,000 to 172,000. Two years after the coronavirus pandemic sent the economy into a brief but devastating recession, American workers are enjoying extraordinary job security. Weekly applications for unemployment aid, a proxy for layoffs, have remained consistently below their pre-pandemic level of 225,000.
Retail sales rise 0.5% in March amid soaring inflation
NEW YORK (AP) — Retail sales rose modestly in March, but higher prices for food, gasoline and other basics took a big share of consumers’ wallets. Retail sales increased 0.5% after registering a revised 0.8% increase from January to February. Spending has been fueled by wage gains, solid hiring and more money in banking accounts. January’s increase of 4.9% was the biggest jump in spending since March 2021, when American households received a final federal stimulus check of $1,400. Excluding an 8.9% increase at gas stations, overall retail sales were actually down 0.3% last month, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Thursday.
Big bank profits decline as deal-making, mortgages slow
NEW YORK (AP) — Four big banks reported noticeable declines in their first quarter profits on Thursday, as the volatile markets and war in Ukraine caused dealmaking to dry up and a slowdown in the housing market caused the mortgage market to slow. The results from Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo were similar to the results out of JPMorgan Chase, which on Wednesday reported a double-digit decline in profits for similar reasons. At Goldman Sachs, profits fell 43% to $3.63 billion. Citigroup posted a 47% decline in profits to $4.00 billion, Wells Fargo’s profits fell 21% and Morgan Stanley’s earnings fell 11%.
A safe bet: If you want a casino job, odds are on your side
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Like most businesses across the U.S., casinos are racing to hire new workers. That is leading to better wages and benefits in some places, and forcing casinos to become more creative. MGM Resorts used virtual reality goggles to let some job applicants experience what the job would be like before deciding. Atlantic City casinos are talking about setting up new transit links to bring workers from farther away to casino jobs. The American Gaming Association says nationwide there are about 1.65 million workers employed in casino-related jobs, about 91% of the staffing level before the coronavirus pandemic hit. Atlantic City’s Ocean Casino will train applicants how to become a dealer — something workers used to have to learn on their own.
US long-term mortgage rates rise; 30-year loan reaches 5%
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates continued to climb this week as the key 30-year loan rate reached 5% for the first time in more than a decade amid persistent high inflation. The average 5% rate on the 30-year mortgage was up from 4.72% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reports. The average rates have been showing the fastest pace of increases since 1994. The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages jumped to 4.17% from 3.91% last week. With inflation at a four-decade high, rising mortgage rates and elevated home prices, the goal of homeownership has become the most expensive in a generation, Freddie Mac says.