More Jobs, Faster Growth and Now, the Threat of a Trade War

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Supported by Economy More Jobs, Faster Growth and Now, the Threat of a Trade War Photo Jerome H. Powell, the new Federal Reserve chairman, on Friday visited a Chicago incubator for industrial start-ups, highlighting the role of manufacturing in the recovery. Credit Lyndon French for The New York Times The rapidly escalating trade conflict with China has upended the prevailing economic dynamic of falling unemployment and faster growth, leaving policymakers and investors scrambling to figure out the way forward.
The threat of a trade war loomed over Jerome H. Powell’s inaugural speech as Federal Reserve chairman on Friday in Chicago, even as he tried to focus attention on the fundamental strength of the American economy. Financial markets fell Friday morning after President Trump’s latest salvo against China, then tumbled further after Mr. Powell indicated that the Fed saw no imminent need to adjust its outlook. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index ended the day down 2.2 percent, c..

Income from UK savings accounts dropped 16% in a year, new research shows

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A low return on savings in traditional accounts could be driving people towards more high-risk investment options
UK savers’ income from bank accounts fell 16 per cent in a year, according to new research, due to low interest rates from banks and building societies.
According to easyMoney, the investment platform launched by easyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the drop in savings income is worse in real terms due to rising inflation.
The decline in income is based on numbers from the 2015/2016 financial year (the latest available data from HMRC) when savers made £5.7bn compared with £6.8bn in 2014/2015.
Read more What an interest rate rise means for home owners and first-time buyers At the end of the 2014/2015 fiscal year, inflation was -0.1 per cent; by January this year it had risen to 3 per cent.
With savers seeing less benefit from stashing their money in bank accounts and cash ISAs, easyMoney said, people are increasingly turning towards alternatives, with many incli..

Your Money: A $350 Million Fund Helps Many Public Servants. Meet the Ones Left Out.

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Supported by Your Money A $350 Million Fund Helps Many Public Servants. Meet the Ones Left Out. Photo Robin White, an assistant professor at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La., purposely paid more than she owed on her student loans. “I wanted to make it clear that I was not trying to take taxpayers’ money,” she said. Credit Annie Flanagan for The New York Times Two weeks ago, Congress created a $350 million pot of money to help teachers, firefighters and others in public service who thought they were enrolled in a program that would forgive their student loans after 10 years of payments. Many of them were not getting credit for their loan payments after all.
These public servants, under the terms of the public service loan forgiveness program, are supposed to have their remaining federal student loan balance forgiven after 120 on-time payments. The program began in 2007, and 2017 was supposed to be the year the first participants got to the finish line.
Few people have cr..

Why Trump’s Tariffs Could Raise the Cost of a Hip Replacement

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Supported by Health Why Trump’s Tariffs Could Raise the Cost of a Hip Replacement Photo Defibrillators, replacement joints, pacemakers, insulin and lidocaine: All are made in China, and all are among the items targeted by the Trump administration’s tariffs. Credit Clockwise from top left: MedStockPhotos, Scott Camazine, MedStockPhontos, Mohammed Anwarul Kabir Choudhury and Dario Lo Presti, via Alamy. Pacemakers and artificial joints. Defibrillators. Dental fillings. Birth-control pills and vaccines. All are made in China, and all could be subject to new tariffs.
Dozens of drugs and medical devices are among the Chinese products and ingredients that the Trump administration targeted for a potential 25 percent tariff in a proposal this week. The list includes some products that are in dangerously short supply, like epinephrine, used to treat allergic reactions, and others, like insulin, whose rising prices have driven public outrage in the United States.
The proposed tariffs have un..

Trump to Skip Correspondents’ Dinner, but Talk Radio? He’s In.

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Supported by Media Trump to Skip Correspondents’ Dinner, but Talk Radio? He’s In. Photo President Trump attacked the White House press corps during an appearance on a New York talk radio program on Friday, calling reporters “novelists.” Credit Tom Brenner/The New York Times Donny from D.C., you’re on the air.
President Trump — buffeted by rumbling trade tensions with China, delicate negotiations with North Korea and fallout from the Russia investigation — took a few minutes this week to reach for the media equivalent of Linus’s blanket: New York City talk radio.
“When you asked me to do the show, I said, I’m thinking, ‘I’m gonna take a couple minutes, I’m gonna do that show — in between North Korea and Iran and all of the other things going on,’” Mr. Trump told the hosts of “Bernie & Sid in the Morning” on WABC-AM, a drive-time program that is not exactly a must-listen beyond certain toll roads in the New York metropolitan area.
“And I gotta tell you, that’s the kind of guy you ar..

Wealth Matters: Beyond Soccer Moms: Relocating for a Child’s Sport

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Supported by Your Money Beyond Soccer Moms: Relocating for a Child’s Sport Photo Maggie Hill and her mother, Jane Hill, at the equestrian farm where Maggie trains in Wellington, Fla. The Hills moved there from Jackson, Wyo., so she could compete on the national equestrian circuit. Credit Scott McIntyre for The New York Times The Hill family considers Jackson, Wyo., to be their home, but after spending parts of the last three years in Wellington, Fla., for their oldest daughter’s equestrian training, they relocated there this year.
The move allowed the daughter, Maggie, 15, to compete at the highest level of equestrian competition there and gave her sister, 11-year-old Ellie, a place where she could settle in for middle school.
For the Movalli family, hockey is it. After sending their 21-year-old son, Justin, to live with other families so he could play in the amateur Tier 1 Elite Hockey League, they moved with their 13-year-old son, Connor, from Dallas to Madison, Conn., so he cou..

Jacob Zuma Appears in Court for South Africa Corruption Trial

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Jacob Zuma Appears in Court for South Africa Corruption Trial Photo Former President Jacob Zuma appeared in court in Durban, South Africa, on Friday. He faces charges including corruption and fraud. Credit Yeshiel Panchia/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images JOHANNESBURG — Just weeks after falling from power, Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s former president, made a brief appearance in court on Friday in a corruption case that emphasized the political upheaval that has recently swept the country.
A judge in the High Court in Durban adjourned the case, which is related to a multibillion-dollar arms deal from the 1990s, until June 8. Mr. Zuma, who made no comment in court, had tried for years to avoid prosecution in the case.
The brevity of his appearance did not detract from the powerful image of Mr. Zuma, a commanding figure just a few months ago, sitting as a defendant in court. Mr. Zuma was stripped of the presidency in February after losing a battle with his rival and eventual successor, P..