Interest rate

Over the next week, six major banks will be reporting their earnings. Higher interest rates could affect both sides of their balance sheets.

The numbers are sending positive and negative signs, making the future of inflation, and the timing of Fed interest rate cuts, uncertain.

The latest Personal Consumption Expenditures index, or PCE, will be released Friday. Experts say there are other clues the Fed is looking for, too.

New home listings hit a 17-month high in February, and as more sellers sell, housing prices could flatten, says Conor Sen at Bloomberg Opinion.

Some builders are starting to see more interest from buyers, including those who spent 2023 on the sidelines, waiting for better rates.

We jumped into the Marketplace time machine to ask some experts how things look from next December.

"Wage growth now is greater than inflation," Bostic says. "But I don't think people feel like they've caught up all the way and that's just going to take some time."

“Inflation has eased over the past year but remains over our longer run goal of 2%,” Powell said

The Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates for almost two years now, affecting virtually everyt;hing in the economy. But some businesses have been relatively insulated from rate hikes.

A lot of homebuilders are working with lenders to offer lower mortgage rates — or they're offering other incentives like money towards closing costs.