At the end of March the price of the euro in terms of US dollars closed at 1.1378. This was an increase of 4.7 percent from February when it increased by 0.3 percent. The yearly growth rate of the price of the euro in US dollar terms jumped to 6 percent in March from minus 2.9 percent in February.

As expected, the Federal Open Market Committee decided today to maintain its target federal funds rate at between 0.25 and 0.50 percent. Another rate hike is expected at the earliest at the June FOMC meeting, with the August meeting being a more likely candidate for a rate hike. Language in the FOMC statement was largely unchanged, with the exception of noting that economic growth has slowed, the labor market has improved, and household spending has moderated.

Former U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert probably deserves to be in prison more than many people who are already there. But the way he’s going to get there spells bad news for ordinary, peaceful Americans. 

The director wants to build a house. Now, there are many methods that can be resorted to. Each of them offers, from the point of view of the director, certain advantages and disadvantages with regard to the utilization of the future building, and results in a different duration of the building’s serviceableness; each of them requires other expenditures of building materials and labor and absorbs other periods of production. Which method should the director choose? He cannot reduce to a common denominator the items of various materials and various kinds of labor to be expended.

Signs of a looming recession are everywhere. Durable goods orders plunged and the Atlanta Fed’s GDP estimate was lowered to 1.4% from 1.9%.

The British steel industry has been at crisis point since last month, when Indian based steel company, Tata Steel, announced its plan to close down its steel plant in Port Talbot in Wales. With the prospect of 40,000 British steelworkers suddenly losing their jobs; politicians, the media, and the public are all very understandably anxious. However, this understandable anxiety has resulted in many people arguing that the government of the United Kingdom should nationalise the industry and have blamed free-market capitalism for the problems facing the UK steel industry.

Federal Reserve Board Governor Lael Brainard’s campaign contributions are in the news today, as she recently maxed out her contributions to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. According to CNBC, Brainard is the only Federal Reserve Board Governor since 1990 to donate to a presidential campaign.

The article is adapted from a short video by Peter Klein.