Finance

The Federal Reserve is set to raise interest rates Wednesday even though one of its stated conditions for doing so is arguing against it. The central bank has a stated dual mandate when assessing its monetary policy: maximizing employment and stabilizing prices. What’s unusual right now is that the Fed’s …

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images A trader, center, wears a Citigroup jacket while working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York. Citigroup CFO John Gerspach said trading revenue for the bank would be down by double digits this quarter. “Volatility has been …

Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg | Getty Images A baker plates slices of cheesecake at a Cheesecake Factory restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, Nov. 13, 2013. Cheesecake Factory said sales will fall this quarter because of poor weather, but investors aren’t buying that excuse. Shares of Cheesecake Factory dropped 8 percent in …

Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images Viking Global Investors CEO Andreas Halvorsen arrives for a morning session during the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. The chief investment officer at Viking Global Investors, one of the world’s biggest hedge funds, is leaving and the …

Bitcoin surged more than 8 percent at one point on Tuesday to a record, breaking above $2,900. The digital currency hit a high of $2,967.48 earlier in the session before giving back some gains to trade at $2,779.67, according to CoinDesk. The cryptocurrency came off its record shortly after Mark …

Bitcoin gave back most of its gains on Tuesday after billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban said in a series of tweets the digital currency is in a bubble. Cuban Tweet: I think it’s in a bubble. I just don’t know when or how much it corrects. When everyone is bragging about …

Recent app download data for Snap suggests a slowdown in the growth of daily active users, a key metric for Snapchat’s parent, Nomura Instinet analyst Anthony DiClemente said in a note Wednesday. DiClemente cited data from SensorTower, a firm that tracks app analytics, which showed Snapchat’s year-over-year downloads have dropped …

In the automobile market, it’s not just the subprime loans but falling used-car values that have one widely followed analyst worried. “A stretched auto consumer, falling used prices, and technological obsolescence of current cars are ingredients for an unprecedented buyer’s strike,” Morgan Stanley Equity Analyst Adam Jonas said in a …

U.S. crude oil prices recovered to trade roughly flat on Thursday, after falling to levels that put the commodity on track for its lowest close in more than six months. The West Texas Intermediate crude contract for July delivery dropped about 1 percent to a session low of $45.20 a …

Heading into Thursday’s session, Wall Street readied for potential market-moving announcements from the European Central Bank and its president, Mario Draghi; Comey’s testimony; and the U.K. general election. “Any hedges that were still on are coming off today,” said Peter Tchir, head of macro strategy at Brean Capital. “Certainly a …