The U.S. Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against Google's search engine dominance is coming closer to a resolution. The trial has wrapped up and Judge Amit Mehta will issue his opinion later this year. The lawsuit hinges on whether Google's payments to Apple to become the default search engine violated antitrust law.
Author: Pearson Business Publishing
Wall Street is Confused and Divided Over How Many Times the Fed Will Cut Rates This Year (Macro News for May 4, 2024 – May 10, 2024)
Economists and investors alike are having a hard time digesting the Fed's comments after the most recent Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The general consensus was that the Fed's stance was relatively dovish, and they expect the Fed will begin lowering interest rates later this year. However, there was disagreement on how many times the Fed would cut rates with the overall range of estimates falling between one and four times.
Manufacturing in Mexico is Having Its Moment. The U.S. is Buying In – and So is China (Micro News for April 27, 2024 – May 3, 2024)
Mexico is emerging as a winner in foreign direct investment as both Chinese and U.S. producers locate manufacturing facilities there to shorten supply chains and reduce the supply chain disruption risk highlighted during the Covid-19 pandemic. This practice of moving facilities closer to home markets is called nearshoring.
Fears About Stagflation are Mounting in the U.S. It’s Every Central Banker’s Worst Nightmare (Macro News for April 27, 2024 – May 3, 2024)
Strong U.S. economic growth for the past few years was dampened by the first quarter 2024 results. U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) dipped to an annualized rate of 1.6% relative to the robust 3.4% rate posted in the fourth quarter of 2023. While those results seem to align with the Federal Reserve's contractionary monetary policy, the inflation results do not. Inflation is once again moving higher and farther away from the Fed's 2% target rate.
Pearson Economic News 