Evelyn Reynolds

As forests succumb to ever-fiercer wildfires, the federal government and some adventurous private companies are trying to resuscitate an industry.When it came to wildfires, 2021 was an increasingly common kind of year in Montana: Flames consumed 747,000 acres, an area nearly the size of Long Island.About 2,700 of those acres were on Don Harland’s Sheep Creek Ranch, where ever-drier summers have turned lodgepole pines into matchsticks ready to ignite. After the smoke cleared, Mr. Harland found creeks running black with soot and the ground hardening more with every day that passed.A former timber industry executive, Mr. Harland knew the forest wouldn’t grow back on its own. The land is high and dry, the ground rocky and inhospitable — not like the rainy coastal Northwest, where trees grow thick and fast. Nor did he have the money to carry out a replanting operation, since growing for timber wouldn’t pay for itself; most of the nearby sawmills had shut down long ago anyway. The state government offered a few grants, but nothing on the scale needed to heal the scar.Then a local forester Mr. Harland knew suggested he get in touch with a new company out of Seattle, called Mast. After visiting to scope out the site, Mast’s staff proposed to replant the whole acreage, free, and even pay Mr. Harland a bit at the end. Mast, in turn, was to earn money from companies that wanted to offset their carbon emissions and would put millions of dollars into planting trees that otherwise wouldn’t exist.Mr. Harland said he had his doubts about the carbon-selling part of the plan, but he was impressed with Mast’s operations, so he said yes.Two years later, after seeds had been collected from similar trees on nearby lands, crews of planters came out with bags full of seedlings, rapidly plunking them into the ashen ground. As part of the deal, Mr. Harland signed an agreement to let the trees grow for at least 100 years, so they can keep sucking greenhouse gases out of the air as they mature.Can carbon credits help rebuild a forest? Tell us what you think. More

Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, said officials can take their time cutting rates. He also underscored the Fed’s independence as election season heats up.Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, reiterated on Wednesday that the central bank can take its time before cutting interest rates as inflation fades and economic growth holds up.The central bank chief also used a speech at Stanford to emphasize the Fed’s independence from politics, a relevant message at a time when election season threatens to pull Fed policy into an uncomfortable limelight.This year is a big one for the Fed: After long months of rapid inflation, price increases are finally coming down. That means that central bankers may soon be able to lower interest rates from their highest levels in two decades. The Fed raised rates to 5.3 percent from March 2022 to mid-2023 to cool the economy and bring inflation to heel.Figuring out when and how much to cut interest rates is tricky, though. Inflation has decelerated more slowly in recent months, and the Fed does not want to cut rates too early and fail to fully wrestle price increases under control. Investors had initially expected the Fed to lower rates early this year, but now see the first move coming in June or July as officials wait for more evidence that inflation has truly moderated.“On inflation, it is too soon to say whether the recent readings represent more than just a bump,” Mr. Powell said. “We do not expect that it will be appropriate to lower our policy rate until we have greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably down toward 2 percent.”“Given the strength of the economy and progress on inflation so far, we have time to let the incoming data guide our decisions on policy,” he added. He called reducing inflation a “sometimes bumpy path.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

The monthly rise in consumer prices came out at 3.16%, led by education, communication, and hotels, restaurants and cafes, which saw month-on-month rises of 13%, 5.6% and 3.9%, respectively.
On an annual basis, education again saw the highest cost inflation at 104% year on year, followed by hotels, restaurants and cafes at 95% and health at 80%.

A money changer holds Turkish lira and U.S. dollar banknotes at a currency exchange office in Ankara, Turkey December 16, 2021.
Cagla Gurdogan | Reuters

Turkey’s annual inflation rose to 68.5% for the month of March, an increase on February’s 67.1% inflation read, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute’s report released Wednesday.
The monthly rise in consumer prices came out at 3.16%, led by education, communication, and hotels, restaurants and cafes, which saw month-on-month rises of 13%, 5.6%, and 3.9%, respectively.

On an annual basis, education again saw the highest cost inflation at 104% year on year, followed by hotels, restaurants and cafes at 95% and health at 80%.
Turkey has launched a concerted effort to tackle soaring inflation with interest rate hikes, most recently raising the country’s key rate from 45% to 50% in late March.

Much of the inflation in recent months stems from a significant increase to the minimum wage that Turkey’s government mandated for 2024. The minimum wage for the year rose to 17,002 Turkish lira (around $530) per month in January, a 100% hike from the same period a year prior.
Economists expect further rate increases from the central bank will be necessary.
While the March inflation count represents “the smallest monthly increase in three months and suggests that the impact of the large minimum wage hike in January may now have largely passed, it is still far from consistent with the single-digit inflation that policymakers are trying to achieve,” Nicholas Farr, an emerging Europe economist at London-based Capital Economics, wrote in an analyst note Wednesday.

“The latest inflation figures do little to change our view that further monetary tightening lies in store and that a more concerted effort to tighten fiscal policy will be needed too,” he said.
Turkey’s central bank implemented eight consecutive interest rate hikes from June 2023 to January 2024, totaling a cumulative 3,650 basis points. It paused in February, suggesting the tightening cycle was over, before raising rates again in March, citing “deterioration in the inflation outlook” and saying that “tight monetary stance will be maintained until a significant and sustained decline in the underlying trend of monthly inflation is observed.”

Supporters of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, mayoral candidate of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), celebrate following the early results in front of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) in Istanbul, Turkey March 31, 2024. 
Umit Bektas | Reuters

Analysts note that with Turkey’s local elections, which took place on March 31, out of the way, pushing ahead with tighter monetary policy will likely be easier. The vote for municipal leaders across the country, which took place Sunday, saw Turkey’s opposition party deal a historic blow to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party, winning the country’s five largest cities and several rural areas as well.
Economic pain and steep living cost increases for ordinary Turks over the last several years played a major role in the results, political observers said.
Exercising tight control over the central bank, Erdogan for the last few years refused to raise rates, calling them “the mother of all evil” and insisting, against economic orthodoxy, that lowering rates was the way to cool inflation. This was despite declining foreign currency reserves and a rapidly weakening Turkish lira, which has lost some 82% of its value against the dollar in the last five years.
Only after appointing a new finance and central bank team in May 2023 did the central bank stage a turnaround in policy, suggesting greater independence at the bank from the executive branch of Turkey’s government. But the political loss for Erdogan’s party in the March local elections could make his future moves more unpredictable, some analysts say.
“The outcome of the vote fuels political uncertainty and raises doubts about whether President Recep Erdogan will stick to unpopular orthodox policies,” Bartosz Sawicki, a market analyst at fintech firm Conotoxia, wrote in a note. But, he added, “With no elections until 2028, another overhaul leading to the return of extra-loose monetary policy seems unlikely.” More

Companies added 184,000 workers on the month, an increase from the upwardly revised February gain of 155,000, according to payrolls processing firm ADP.
In addition to the strong employment pickup, ADP reported that wages for workers who stayed in their jobs increased 5.1% from a year ago

Flat Rock, North Carolina, parked tractor trailer billboard with now hiring, Ingles supermarket. 
Jeff Greenberg | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

Private sector job growth expanded in March at its fastest pace since July 2023, indicating continuing buoyance in the U.S. labor market, payrolls processing firm ADP reported Wednesday.
Companies added 184,000 workers on the month, an increase from the upwardly revised February gain of 155,000, which also was the Dow Jones estimate for March.

In addition to the strong employment pickup, ADP reported that wages for workers who stayed in their jobs increased 5.1% from a year ago, the same rate as February after showing a steady easing going well back into 2023. Those switching jobs saw gains of 10%, also higher than in previous months.
“March was surprising not just for the pay gains, but the sectors that recorded them,” said ADP chief economist Nela Richardson. “Inflation has been cooling, but our data shows pay is heating up in both goods and services.”
Job gains were fairly broad-based, led by leisure and hospitality with 63,000. Other sectors showing significant increases included construction (33,000), trade, transportation and utilities (29,000) and education and health services (17,000). Professional and business services saw a loss of 8,000.
Services-related industries accounted for 142,000 of the total, with goods providing the rest. ADP, whose survey is based on payroll data analysis of more than 25 million workers, does not track government jobs.
Most of the growth came from companies that employ more than 50 workers, with small businesses adding just 16,000 to the total. From a regional standpoint, the South saw the biggest gains, adding 91,000 workers.

The ADP estimate serves as a precursor to the Labor Department’s nonfarm payrolls survey, set to be released Friday, though the numbers often diverge sharply. The department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported job growth of 275,000 in February, or 120,000 more than even ADP’s revised figure. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect the March count to show growth of 200,000.
Solid payroll growth along with easing inflation has allowed the Federal Reserve to be patient in its approach to easing monetary policy. Central bank officials expect to start cutting interest rates later this year but have said in recent days that they haven’t seen enough evidence yet that inflation is on a sustained path lower to begin reductions. More

Inflation in the 20-nation euro zone eased to 2.4% in March, according to flash figures published Wednesday.
The dip boosts expectations for interest rate cuts to begin in the summer.
Markets expect the central bank will begin lowering interest rates in June — a position reflected in the recent messaging of ECB decision-makers.

Two women hold an umbrella while sitting at an outdoor table of a cafe on April 01, 2024 in Rome, Italy. 
Emanuele Cremaschi | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Inflation in the 20-nation euro zone eased to 2.4% in March, according to flash figures published by the European Union’s statistics agency Wednesday, boosting expectations for interest rate cuts to begin in the summer.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the rate would hold steady against the previous month at 2.6%.

The core rate of inflation, excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, cooled from 3.1% to 2.9%, also coming in below expectations.
However, inflation in services — a key watcher for the European Central Bank — remained stuck at 4% for a fifth straight month, pointing to continued pressure from wage growth.
Another indicator for the ECB released Wednesday, the euro area unemployment rate, stood at 6.5% in February, stable against January but down from 6.6% in February 2023.
Price rises in France and Spain came in lower than forecast last week. On Tuesday, headline inflation in the bloc’s biggest economy, Germany, was estimated at a three-year low of 2.2%.
Markets expect the euro zone’s central bank will begin lowering borrowing costs in June — a position reflected in the recent messaging of ECB decision-makers. They are next set to hold a monetary policy meeting on April 11.

Even Austrian central bank head Robert Holzmann, an ECB hawk who previously said it was possible that no cuts at all would take place in 2024, told Reuters this week that he did not have an “in-principle objection to easing in June.”
“The current narrative is clearly pointing to a first rate cut in June,” Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro at ING, said in a note Wednesday. That is due to the March inflation print as well as the data on wage growth and ECB staff forecasts on gross domestic product and inflation that will be released by then, he said.
Kamil Kovar, senior economist at Moody’s Analytics, said the release of Wednesday “poured cold water on the idea that the last mile in defeating inflation will be hardest,” and reiterated a call for five rate cuts this year.
“Inflation has declined despite a jump in energy inflation, and a boost from an early Easter. Even if the good headline number masked some less favorable details, such as services coming in hot while food prices tumbled, inflation overall is still on course to dip below 2% sometime during the summer,” Kovar said. More

Economies focused on exports have lifted millions out of poverty, but epochal changes in trade, supply chains and technology are making it a lot harder.For more than half a century, the handbook for how developing countries can grow rich hasn’t changed much: Move subsistence farmers into manufacturing jobs, and then sell what they produce to the rest of the world.The recipe — customized in varying ways by Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and China — has produced the most potent engine the world has ever known for generating economic growth. It has helped lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, create jobs and raise standards of living.The Asian Tigers and China succeeded by combining vast pools of cheap labor with access to international know-how and financing, and buyers that reached from Kalamazoo to Kuala Lumpur. Governments provided the scaffolding: They built up roads and schools, offered business-friendly rules and incentives, developed capable administrative institutions and nurtured incipient industries.But technology is advancing, supply chains are shifting, and political tensions are reshaping trade patterns. And with that, doubts are growing about whether industrialization can still deliver the miracle growth it once did. For developing countries, which contain 85 percent of the globe’s population — 6.8 billion people — the implications are profound.Today, manufacturing accounts for a smaller share of the world’s output, and China already does more than a third of it. At the same time, more emerging countries are selling inexpensive goods abroad, increasing competition. There are not as many gains to be squeezed out: Not everyone can be a net exporter or offer the world’s lowest wages and overhead.Robotics at a car factory in China. Today, manufacturing accounts for a smaller share of the world’s output, and China already does more than a third of it. Qilai Shen for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Wendy’s menu boards. Ben & Jerry’s grocery store freezers. Abercrombie & Fitch’s marketing. Many mainstays of the American customer experience are increasingly powered by artificial intelligence.The question is whether the technology will actually make companies more efficient.Rapid productivity improvement is the dream for both companies and economic policymakers. If output per hour holds steady, firms must either sacrifice profits or raise prices to pay for wage increases or investment projects. But when firms figure out how to produce more per working hour, it means that they can maintain or expand profits even as they pay or invest more. Economies experiencing productivity booms can experience rapid wage gains and quick growth without as much risk of rapid inflation.But many economists and officials seem dubious that A.I. — especially generative A.I., which is still in its infancy — has spread enough to show up in productivity data already.Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, recently suggested that A.I. “may” have the potential to increase productivity growth, “but probably not in the short run.” John C. Williams, president of the New York Fed, has made similar remarks, specifically citing the work of the Northwestern University economist Robert Gordon.Mr. Gordon has argued that new technologies in recent years, while important, have probably not been transformative enough to give a lasting lift to productivity growth.“The enthusiasm about large language models and ChatGPT has gone a bit overboard,” he said in an interview.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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