Economy

President Trump’s nominee to head the Federal Reserve, former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, will testify on Tuesday for his nomination hearing.

Economists warn that as tax refund season ends and the war in Iran pushes prices higher across more categories, the long-running disconnect between how consumers feel and how they spend may finally start to close.

The war in the Middle East is pushing up inflation in the short term, but longer-term expectations are tamer. That’s relieved pressure on long-term bonds, though that could change if the war escalates.

The price of tomatoes rose more than 15% last month alone.

Markets were hopeful on Friday after Iran announced that the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened to commercial vessels. Now, escalating tensions are bringing expectations back down.

There were once thousands of credit agencies in the U.S. But in the 1970s, the industry began to consolidate.

The National Association of Realtors reports that the median first-time buyer topped 40 for the first time ever.

“The only thing certain is uncertainty,” said Brian Duncan, an Illinois hog and soybean farmer.

When times are uncertain, businesses often turn to temp workers to test the waters before hiring full-time employees.

“Businesses say they would have raised wages by roughly an additional percentage point” had it not been for rising health insurance costs, said senior economics contributor Chris Farrell.