Every weekend, I recap “news you can use” from the week — a handful of quotes from major (and often expensive) news sources — so you can stay up to date on the news that affects your money without spending a dime and in less than a minute.
Here’s an overview of what happened this week.
Trump Picks Kevin Warsh as Fed Chair (Jan. 30, Wall Street Journal):
Warsh will inherit a central bank divided over whether to cut interest rates further. Several Fed officials are uneasy about cutting when inflation remains above the central bank’s 2% target. Warsh gained a reputation for being an inflation “hawk” during and after leaving the Fed because he spent years warning that easy monetary policy would fuel rising prices.
More recently, he has said the Fed should cut rates faster.
US Producer Prices Top Forecasts on Higher Services Costs (Jan. 30, Bloomberg):
US wholesale prices rose by more than forecast in December, suggesting companies are increasingly passing on tariff costs at the risk of keeping inflationary pressures elevated.
The producer price index rose 0.5%, the most in three months, while an underlying gauge that strips out food and energy jumped at one of the fastest rates of the year.
Partial government shutdown on track for Saturday after Senate vote on funding deal stalled (Jan. 30, CNBC):
Even if the Senate votes on that deal Friday, at least a short shutdown is all but certain because the House of Representatives isn’t scheduled to return to Washington until Monday. Both chambers would be required to vote to approve the spending bills before the package goes to President Donald Trump to sign.
Oil prices rise more than 3% as Trump weighs strikes on Iran (Jan. 29, CNBC):
The Islamic Republic launched a security crackdown earlier this month to quell protests, leaving thousands dead.
The oil market is monitoring whether the unrest in Iran and possible military intervention by the U.S. could lead to a disruption of crude supplies in the region.
Trade deficit soared 94% in November and was higher than a year ago, despite tariff efforts (Jan. 29, CNBC):
The increase in the deficit counters Trump’s efforts to use tariffs to reduce imbalances around the globe. When announcing so-called reciprocal tariffs in April 2025, the White House used the level of trade deficits with varying countries as a baseline for determining the duties.
As the year went by, Trump softened his stance. A framework agreement between the U.S. and the EU in August put the tariff rate at 15% on most European goods and sought to stabilize relations between the two sides.
Apartment rents just dropped to the lowest level in 4 years (Jan. 29, CNBC):
The national median rent in January was $1,353, a drop of 1.4% compared with one year ago. The national vacancy rate was 7.3% in January, a record high on Apartment List’s index, which dates to 2017.
The record supply of new apartment units has peaked, but there is still a good amount coming through the pipeline. That is coming up against weaker demand because of a tighter job market and slower household formation.
Amazon will cut 16,000 jobs, adding to the tech sector’s new wave of layoffs (Jan. 28, MarketWatch):
The company has been in the midst of a series of changes, having announced Tuesday, for instance, that it will be closing its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh physical grocery stores.
Fed holds key interest rate steady as economic view improves (Jan. 28, CNBC):
The Federal Reserve held its key interest steady in a range between 3.5% and 3.75% after a recent run of interest rate cuts.
“Available indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding at a solid pace. Job gains have remained low, and the unemployment rate has shown some signs of stabilization,” the central bank said in its post-meeting statement. “Inflation remains somewhat elevated.”
TACO Tracking: Trump Carries Out One in Four Tariff Threats (Jan. 27, Bloomberg):
Financial markets and executives have mostly shrugged off Trump’s latest warnings, seeing them as words intended to gain leverage or change behavior.
A Bloomberg Economics analysis found that Trump only follows through on his tariff threats about a quarter of the time, with about 43% of threats being withdrawn or not imposed yet.
All eyes are on Trump’s reaction to the ‘mother of all deals’ between India and the EU (Jan. 27, CNBC):
The deal, which was confirmed earlier Tuesday, has taken almost two decades to agree and will see the trading behemoths gradually cut tariffs to zero on the majority of each other’s imports, except on some key products and sectors.
US Consumer Confidence Plummets to Lowest Level Since 2014 (Jan. 27, Bloomberg):
The Conference Board’s gauge decreased to 84.5, from an upwardly revised 94.2 last month, data out Tuesday showed. The figure was the lowest since May 2014 and fell short of all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
In write-in responses to the survey, consumers often mentioned prices of oil, gas and groceries, Dana Peterson, chief economist at the Conference Board, said in a statement. Mentions of politics, the labor market and health insurance also rose, she said.
Risk of a Partial Government Shutdown This Weekend Is Rising. Here’s Why. (Jan. 26, Wall Street Journal):
Congress is running out of time to pass a sprawling appropriations package before current funding for much of the federal government expires at 12:01 a.m. ET on Saturday. Senate Democrats said they won’t support the bill without changes to the provisions regarding the Department of Homeland Security, raising the risk of a partial government shutdown this weekend.
Bets on a U.S. government shutdown spike after latest civilian death in Minnesota (Jan. 26, MarketWatch):
Expectations for a U.S. government shutdown spiked over the weekend, with betters now placing an 82% chance of that happening by Jan. 31, according to activity on the prediction site Polymarket.
Dollar slides to 4-month low on efforts to boost the yen, which could spell trouble for U.S. equities (Jan. 26, MarketWatch):
The U.S. dollar took another hit on Monday, weakening to its lowest levels in four months, as talk of a coordinated intervention to prop up the competing Japanese yen intensified.
A stronger Japanese currency could end up translating into trouble for U.S. stocks, as it did on Aug. 5, 2024, when a sharp unwinding of the yen carry trade was blamed for a selloff in global equities.
About me
I founded Money Talks News in 1991. I’m a CPA, and I have also earned licenses in stocks, commodities, options principal, mutual funds, life insurance, securities supervisor and real estate.