Economy

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The Justice Department is set to file an antitrust suit against the real estate company RealPage alleging illegal price-fixing facilitated by algorithms.The Justice Department plans to file an antitrust lawsuit as soon as Friday against the real estate software company RealPage, claiming its software enabled landlords to collude to raise rents, two people with knowledge of the lawsuit said.The suit, which will be joined by California, Colorado, Minnesota, North Carolina, Washington and other states, was expected to accuse RealPage of facilitating a price-fixing conspiracy that boosted rents beyond market forces, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.The suit would escalate the government’s efforts to regulate what it sees as misuse of technology. Officials have sued Google, Amazon, Meta and Apple over what they said were monopolistic behaviors that harm consumers.RealPage’s YieldStar product, which gathers confidential real estate information, has been at the heart of the government’s concerns. Landlords, who pay for the software, share information about rents and occupancy rates that is otherwise confidential. Based on that data, an algorithm generates suggestions for what landlords should charge renters, and those figures are often higher than they would be in a competitive market, according to allegations in prior lawsuits against RealPage by state attorneys general.A spokeswoman for the Justice Department declined to comment.Owned by the private equity firm Thoma Bravo, RealPage has advertised its software to landlords as a tool that can help them outperform the market by 3 percent to 7 percent. It says its software is used in metro areas around the country.RealPage did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Thoma Bravo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.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 Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual conference in Wyoming gets a lot of buzz. Here’s why it matters for Wall Street and the economy.Anyone who has flipped through newspapers or business television channels this week might have noticed two words on repeat: Jackson Hole.They refer to the premier central banking conference of the year, which is held late each August at the Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. This year’s conference kicks off Thursday and runs through Saturday.To the uninitiated, it might seem weird that what is arguably the most important economic event in the world is held in remote Wyoming, two time zones away from the Federal Reserve’s Washington-based Board of Governors and 1,047 miles from its host, the Kansas City Fed. And the symposium itself is hardly your average conference. Loafers cede to cowboy boots. Attendees snack on huckleberry pastries (or swill huckleberry drinks) while discussing the latest economic papers.But if Jackson Hole is a little bit incongruous, it is also unquestionably important, an invite-only gathering where paradigm-shaping research is presented and momentous policy shifts are announced. The event has long been an obsession on Wall Street.This year will be no exception. Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, is scheduled to speak Friday morning, and markets are waiting anxiously to parse his remarks for even the slightest hint about how much the Fed might cut interest rates at its meeting next month — and how quickly central bankers will reduce borrowing costs after that.Wondering how a monetary policy conference held at the tail end of August became such a big deal and why it has stayed that way? Curious whether this year’s Jackson Hole conference will matter for mortgage rates or job prospects?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

$75 per monthComplete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders. Pay a year upfront and save 20%.What’s included Global news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print edition More

$75 per monthComplete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders. Pay a year upfront and save 20%.What’s included Global news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print edition More

Contrary to what many believe in, investment research firm BCA Research sees that the economy is on the cusp of a recession.
“There’s things that are breaking down quite rapidly now,” Garry Evans, BCA Research’s chief strategist of global asset allocation said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”

An Aldi supermarket in Alhambra, California, US, on Thursday, June 27, 2024. 
Eric Thayer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Contrary to what many believe, investment research firm BCA Research sees that the economy is on the cusp of a recession, and the predicted upcoming U.S. Federal Reserve rate cuts will not be sufficient to steer markets out of it.
“Every single one of us now believes there’s a recession, and that’s exactly the opposite of what the market believes,” Garry Evans, BCA Research’s chief strategist of global asset allocation told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”

Evans pointed to signs of the economy slowing down, including what he called the “deteriorating” U.S. labor market. The U.S. Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate inched to 4.3% in July to its highest since October 2021, and a gauge for U.S. manufacturing activity fell to an eight-month low in the same month.
“There’s things that are breaking down quite rapidly now,” said the strategist.
The Fed funds futures market suggests that investors are expecting at least three rate cuts by the end of the year, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
But according to Evans, that will not move the needle much on his projections.
“A few rate cuts are not going to prevent a recession. Average recession is 10 months… It takes something like a year before fed cuts actually start to give a boost to the economy,” he said.

“The market believes that the fed fund rate at the end of next year will be 3%. It’s currently at 5.3%. That will not happen unless there is a recession,” he added.
A recession typically occurs when there are two consecutive quarters of decline in a country’s real GDP.
Traders are also keeping their eye on the annual economic policy symposium in Jackson Hole this week, which could offer greater clarity on the interest rate outlook, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell set to speak at the gathering on Friday.
The U.S. economy has remained robust even amid ongoing inflation and elevated interest rates.
In the last century, there have been more than a dozen recessions, some lasting as long as a year and a half.
Although the U.S. isn’t officially in a recession, a survey conducted by Affirm reveals that about 3 out of 5 Americans think it is. More

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia Treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Friday he was prepared to amend some proposed reforms of the Reserve Bank of Australia after objections from the opposition coalition led by the Liberal Party. An independent review of the central bank last year made a number of recommendations, including the splitting of the RBA board into two, one to set monetary policy and a second focusing on operations. The review had recommended setting up a nine-member rate board with six outside members, which the opposition said could be used by the ruling Labor Party to include appointees friendly towards the current government.Chalmers said he was now prepared to move all six current external members of the RBA board to the new rate-setting board unless they request not to, after negotiations with Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor. Chalmers said he would also amend a proposal to remove the government’s veto power of the RBA, allowing it to do so only in emergency situations. “I want these changes to be above and beyond partisan politics. I want them to be bipartisan, and that’s what’s driven me at every stage,” Chalmers told a press conference on Friday. A number of other smaller issues were being worked through with Taylor, Chalmers said.The RBA has already adopted some of the recommendations from the review, including having fewer but longer policy meetings and holding a media conference after each decision. However, it is undecided on others, including having all board members making regular appearances to discuss their thinking on policy.Legislation on the RBA boards’ composition was due to come into effect on July 1 but has been delayed due to lack of support from the opposition. Chalmers said he hoped to legislate the changes through parliament by the end of the year, to take effect early next year. More

(Reuters) -Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Friday the central bank stood ready to raise interest rates if the economy and prices move in line with its forecast, while keeping a close eye on market developments.Ueda said the BOJ would remain vigilant to market moves and their impact on the central bank’s growth and price forecasts, as well as its view on risks.While watching the fallout from recent market volatility, Ueda said there was “no change to our basic stance to adjust the degree of monetary easing” if the bank became convinced that economic and price developments were moving in line with forecasts.Ueda said the market volatility seen in early August was due to rising fears of a U.S. recession, stoked by the country’s weak economic data, while the BOJ’s interest rate hike in July led to a sharp reversal of “one-sided yen falls”.”Markets at home and abroad remain unstable, so we will be highly vigilant to market developments for the time being,” Ueda said in parliament, where he was summoned to explain the BOJ’s decision in July to raise interest rates. More