Market Wire, North America

As had been widely anticipated, the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark borrowing rate by a quarter percentage point this afternoon, and cautious language in the statement points to a more gradual pace of easing ahead. The Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to lower the target range for the federal funds rate to 4.5 to 4.75 percent, with Governor Bowman moving back into line with the consensus after dissenting in favour of a similar-sized move in September. In the statement setting out the decision, officials noted “economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace,” before saying “Since earlier...

The US employment engine slowed sharply in October, but the impact on markets looks relatively modest thus far, given that investors had been braced for a weaker payrolls report, with hurricane-related effects widely expected to combine with the ongoing Boeing strike to bring job-creation rates down. According to data just released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, just 12,000 jobs were added in the month – representing an undershoot relative to the 100,000-consensus forecast – but the unemployment rate held at 4.1 percent, and the labour force participation rate inched only slightly lower, suggesting that labour market internals remained relatively...

Consumer price growth accelerated in the United States last month, reducing the Federal Reserve’s scope for manoeuvre as it eases policy settings, and further depressing odds on a second outsized rate cut at next month’s decision. According to data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning, the core consumer price index – with highly-volatile food and energy prices excluded – rose 3.3 percent in September from the same period last year, up 0.3 percent on a month-over-month basis. This was slightly above consensus estimates among economists polled by the major data providers ahead of the release, which had...