The Currency - Money

The U.S. economy created 336,000 new jobs in September – roughly twice as many as economists expected. That labor-market tightness (coupled with decelerating but still too-hot wage growth) means that it’s probably too soon for the Fed to completely let down its guard with regard to inflation.

Private equity refers to ownership in a private company, often done through private equity funds that cater to high-net-worth investors. Meanwhile, public equity refers to ownership in publicly traded companies, which are available to anyone with an investment account.

Get our perspective on interest rates, bonds in a diversified portfolio, and happenings on Capitol Hill in September's market recap.

The market’s lack of reaction to the government shutdown is by itself interesting for what it says about what matters to investors: Persistent fears that the U.S. economy is lurching its way toward recession. More on the shutdown, housing market and jobs report in this week's edition.

When Fed Chairman Jerome Powell continually warned that the Fed was more inclined to keep rates high longer than markets seemed to expect, investors didn’t really worry too much. Now, the market’s view that the Fed would probably start cutting rates sometime after New Year’s Day looks quite a bit more tenuous than it once did.

Prices at the consumer level rose 0.6% in August, faster than at any point in more than a year. At the producer level, things were even worse: PPI rose 0.7%, also the biggest increase since last summer.

Annual percentage yield, or APY, is a percentage value that represents the total amount of interest you earn on investment accounts during the year. Learn how it’s calculated and how to compare APY for different accounts.