South Korea’s central bank kept its record-low policy rate unchanged on Thursday, holding the rate at 0.50% and cutting its 2020 growth forecast sharply.

The Bank of Korea’s move was widely expected. It has maintained the historically low rate since May as the prolonged coronavirus pandemic weighs on the country’s economy, which is heading for its weakest growth in more than two decades.

The...

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is likely to announce the conclusions of the central bank’s yearlong revamp of its policy strategy in his remarks Thursday for the virtual symposium typically held in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

At their meeting last month, Fed officials discussed changes to the central bank’s statement of longer-run goals and monetary-policy strategy—the most formal product of the framework review. But minutes from the Fed’s July 28-29 meeting, released last week, were unusually brief in revealing what had been...

Kansas City Fed leader Esther George said Wednesday it is unclear whether the U.S. central bank will need to do more to help the U.S. economy during the coronavirus pandemic.

While her baseline outlook is for the U.S. economy to continue to improve, Ms. George said on CNBC that there is still considerable uncertainty, and that what happens with the economy depends on the health-policy reaction to the crisis. In this environment, “It’s too soon to try to speculate on what else might be needed other than to say the Federal Reserve...

This is the web version of the WSJ’s newsletter on the economy. You can sign up for daily delivery here. House Hunters U.S. new-home sales rose to the highest level since the waning days of the housing bubble, underscoring a strong recovery for the housing market as people search out more space while working and […]

The world’s rich economies experienced the deepest contraction in at least six decades in the spring, according to fresh data published Wednesday, while continuing outbreaks of the novel coronavirus mean their path back to pre-pandemic levels of output is likely be fraught.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Wednesday said the combined economic output of its 37 members—most of which are rich—was 9.8% lower in the second quarter than it was in the first, the largest decline since records began in 1960....

WASHINGTON—Many homeowners who refinance their mortgages in the next three months will avoid paying an additional fee averaging $1,400, a federal regulator said Tuesday.

Mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will delay a 0.5% surcharge on refinanced home loans until Dec. 1, said the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates them.

The...

As long as the coronavirus pandemic keeps many American consumers on the sidelines, a jump in inflation seems to be a minimal threat to the economy.

A new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco ties the lion’s share of recent inflation weakness relative to the Fed’s 2% target to the consumer reaction to the pandemic.

The recent...

The Federal Reserve is making progress in incorporating climate change risks into its bank oversight activities, but its work is far from done, says a new report from a group of Senate Democrats.

The report released Tuesday examines what the legislators think the whole U.S. financial oversight system needs to do to reduce climate change risks, while offering specific recommendations for the nation’s central bank.

The...

Global trade flows collapsed in the spring, marking the largest fall in two decades, as coronavirus lockdowns disrupted air and sea transport and dealt a blow to the demand for many consumer and investment goods.

In more recent weeks, signs have emerged of a rebound in the movement of goods across national borders. But the enormous economic and social disruptions caused by the pandemic are expected to reshape global trade in the longer term.

Home-price growth held flat in June, as home sales started to rebound following the pandemic-related lockdowns.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, which measures average home prices in major metropolitan areas across the nation, rose 4.3% in the year that ended in June, unchanged from the prior month.

Sales of previously...

This is the web version of the WSJ’s newsletter on the economy. You can sign up for daily delivery here. China is closing the economic gap with the U.S., another round of Covid lockdowns would be too costly, more U.S. workers are testing positive for drugs, and Canada scores a win on lumber. Jeff Sparshott […]

China will maintain a prudent, “normal” monetary policy in the second half of the year and continue to be flexible, a senior central bank official said Tuesday.

The country needs to provide more stability via monetary policy to combat the uncertainties brought on by the coronavirus, said Sun Guofeng, head of the monetary policy department at the People’s Bank of China.

Since...

Home sales surged in July, signaling how much the pandemic is reshaping where and how Americans want to live during this period of social distancing and working from home.

Home buyers who were reluctant to venture out in March and April when much of the country was under lockdown have returned in force since late spring. With the effects of coronavirus showing little signs of abating, many home shoppers have new priorities for a place to live, or are accelerating existing plans.

Buyers are ready to move farther from cities, now that many workers aren’t commuting every day. The pandemic has spurred some households to live closer to family, or somewhere that offers more space with so much time spent at home, brokers and economists say.

“People that were in condominiums are looking for townhomes, and people in townhomes are looking for single-families,” said Bob Chew, a group leader at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty in Ellicott City, Md....

As countries world-wide boost spending to battle the new coronavirus, government debt has soared to levels not seen since World War II.

Among advanced economies, debt rose to 128% of global gross domestic product as of July, according to the International Monetary Fund. In 1946, it came to 124%.

For now, governments shouldn’t worry about mounting...

This is the web version of the WSJ’s newsletter on the economy. You can sign up for daily delivery here. It’s another full week for economic data and policy talk, bookended by the Republican National Convention at the start of the week and the Kansas City Fed’s annual policy retreat—this time virtual—at the end. Jeff […]

At the Federal Reserve’s July policy meeting, Chairman Jerome Powellreiterated a simple message about the future of the central bank’s monetary policy, saying “We’re not even thinking about thinking about raising rates.”

Wall Street got the message. On Thursday, the New York Fed released the results of its survey ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting last month. Big banks told the Fed they currently expect the earliest point it might raise rates is some time in the first half of 2024. Questions asked in the survey...

Consumer-spending figures for July cap a full week of U.S. data that will likely show the country’s recovery from a coronavirus-induced recession is continuing, though possibly at a slower pace than in May or June.

Tuesday

U.S. new-home sales are expected to post another increase in July, underscoring strong demand amid low interest rates...

The U.S. economy picked up momentum this month as companies shook off the effects of the pandemic-induced downturn, though recoveries in other parts of the world slowed, according to new surveys of purchasing managers.

The data released Friday suggest U.S. firms are seeing demand return as they reopen from the lockdowns imposed in the spring and early summer. They also indicate the economy has so far managed to weather July’s sharp rise in new coronavirus infections and business closures that threatened to knock the recovery...

An increasing number of workers were unemployed for more than three months in July, a signal that the coronavirus pandemic is likely to have a lasting economic impact on many people.

The number who were unemployed between 15 and 26 weeks rose by a seasonally adjusted 4.6 million to 6.5 million people last month, according to the Labor Department. The July reading is the highest on record for the category in data going back to 1948, and it is nearly double the prior peak, set in 2009 at the end of the last recession.

China’s exports picked up momentum in July for the second straight month, as global demand recovered with the easing of coronavirus-related restrictions.

Underpinned by strong shipments of protective gear for the pandemic and electronic products to fulfill work-from-home demand, July’s 7.2% increase from a year earlier was the fastest so far in 2020, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs on Friday. It beat June’s 0.5% growth, in addition to a 0.1% increase expected by economists polled by The...

Employers added 1.8 million jobs in July, and the unemployment rate fell to 10.2%, so far recovering less than half of the jobs lost due to the coronavirus pandemic.

July’s job growth followed May and June’s combined payroll gain of 7.5 million as many states lifted lockdown restrictions on businesses. There are now about 13 million fewer jobs than in February, the month before the coronavirus hit the U.S. economy.

Last...

Australia’s central bank said the country’s unemployment rate could stay near its peak throughout next year if Australia is roiled by a series of regional coronavirus outbreaks and rolling lockdowns to slow the pathogen’s spread.

The so-called downside scenario was detailed in the Reserve Bank of Australia’s quarterly statement on monetary policy published Friday. It was included alongside a discussion of the economic impact of a faster-than-expected recovery and the central bank’s baseline projection for output to fall 6%...

Filings for jobless benefits fell to 1.2 million last week, a sign layoffs fell as the labor market tries to recover.

Initial claims for jobless benefits have held roughly steady at more than 1.3 million a week since late June, according to the Labor Department. That halted what had been a swift decline from a peak of 6.9 million in late March, when the pandemic and business closures shut down parts of the U.S. economy. The level recorded in recent weeks remains well above the highest on record before this year, which was...

The Turkish lira hit a record low against the dollar Thursday despite efforts by the country’s central bank to curtail its fall.

The lira has declined 18% against the dollar this year, including Thursday’s almost 3% drop. At the currency’s weakest, one dollar bought 7.2844 lira, putting it on track for its weakest closing value against the greenback. That also leaves the lira weaker than the previous intraday record of one dollar buying 7.2692 lira on May 7.

This is the web version of the WSJ’s newsletter on the economy. You can sign up for daily delivery here. Next Level? New applications for unemployment benefits have held persistently at high levels in recent weeks, suggesting layoffs remain elevated and the labor market’s momentum is easing. Initial claims for jobless benefits have held nearly […]