What Is the FOMC? Inside the Two-Day Meeting That Sets the Price of Money What is the FOMC? It’s the twelve-person committee whose vote, announced at exactly 2:00 p.m. Eastern on the second day of its meetings, moves more money than any other scheduled event on Earth — repricing mortgages, credit cards, bonds, and stock … Read more
What Is CPI? The Inflation Number That Decides the Fed’s Next Move What is CPI? It’s the closest thing the economy has to a monthly report card on the cost of living — and on Friday, September 11, at 8:30 a.m. sharp, the next one lands with unusual weight. Wall Street, in Fortune’s phrase, is … Read more
Jobs Report: How One Number Moved Every Market — and How to Read It Yourself Jobs report explained in one scene: yesterday morning at exactly 8:30 a.m. Eastern, a US government agency published a single number — +162,000 — and within seconds, stock futures jumped, bond yields moved, and forecasts for the Federal Reserve’s next … Read more
Is a Fed Rate Hike Coming? What the Jackson Hole Speech Means for Your Wallet On Friday, one man gave a 30-minute speech in a mountain resort in Wyoming — and within minutes, the odds of your borrowing costs going up jumped from roughly one-in-three to better than a coin flip. The man was Kevin … Read more
Unemployment Explained: What the Jobs Numbers Really Tell You Unemployment is one of the most closely watched numbers in the entire economy, appearing in the news every single month and shaping decisions made everywhere from the Federal Reserve to your own kitchen table. It measures how many people want to work but cannot find a … Read more
Central Banks Around the World: How Different Countries Manage Their Money Central banks around the world all do a similar job — managing a country’s money — but they are far from identical. The US Federal Reserve gets most of the global attention, but every major economy has its own central bank, each with its … Read more
How the Fed Sets Rates: Inside the Meeting That Moves the World How the Fed sets rates is one of the most consequential processes in the global economy, and it happens in a room most people will never see. Eight times a year, a small group of officials sits down, debates the state of the … Read more
Interest Rates Explained: The Price of Money and Why It Rules the Economy Interest rates are, quietly, one of the most powerful forces in your financial life. They decide how much you pay on a mortgage, how much you earn on your savings, whether businesses expand or contract, and even how much your currency is … Read more
Inflation: Why Your Money Buys Less Than It Used To Inflation explained in one sentence: the same money buys less than it did before. That loaf of bread, that gallon of fuel, that monthly rent — if they all cost more today than they did a few years ago and your income has not risen … Read more
One Shopping Report, and the Whole World Felt It On Friday, August 14, 2026, the US government released a routine monthly report: how much money Americans spent at stores in July. The number came in at minus 0.6% — meaning people spent less than the month before. Experts had expected a small increase of 0.1%. … Read more