Inflation, rates? Who knows?
Welcome to The Money, where we break down financial news and provide the TL;DR version of how decisions by the Federal Reserve, government and companies impact you.
The only clear thing that came out of Wednesday's Federal Reserve meeting is: the Fed doesn't know.
"It is likely to take longer for us to gain confidence that we are on a sustainable path down to 2% inflation," Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a news conference. "I don't know how long it will take."
He expects inflation to resume its easing trend this year, though he added, "My confidence in that is lower."
"I don't know that will be enough, sufficient" for the Fed to lower rates in 2024. "I don't know that it won't."
Job market red flags?
Companies cut more jobs this week.
Peloton's shedding about 15% of its workforce and its chief executive is stepping down.
Tesla decimated its supercharging team by axing about 500 employees. That's on top of a 10% workforce cut announced last month.
Plus, professional and business services – a sprawling sector that includes most white-collar fields – added a meager 7,000 jobs last month and has created just 71,000 positions since June of last year. The tally was pumped up by January’s 48,000 white-collar payroll gains.
How much is an hour of your time worth?
On average, Americans say $240 an hour. Based on a standard 40-hour week, that puts their perceived value at $499,200 a year, or nearly eight times higher than the average U.S. salary of $59,384, an Empower survey said.
Young people tend to say their time is worth even more, and they're willing to sacrifice money to get more time.
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