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    Prices surged in June and pay growth, while brisk, is struggling to keep up.

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    Prices climbed by 6.8 percent in the year through June, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge showed, and even a measure that strips out food and fuel picked up notably on a monthly basis.Inflation as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditures index jumped by 4.8 percent over the past year after stripping out food and fuel, which economists do to get a sense of underlying trends, a slightly larger increase than the 4.7 percent increase economists in a Bloomberg survey had expected.Those data are likely to keep the central bank on track to raise rates more as it tries to cool down the fastest inflation in decades. Fed officials made their second supersized rate increase in a row — three-quarters of a percentage point — this week as they try to slow down the economy by making money more expensive to borrow.A separate report showed that wages climbed briskly. The Employment Cost Index climbed by 5.1 percent in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, and the index’s measure of wages and salaries also picked up.While most people are not seeing their pay climb quickly enough to keep pace with rapidly rising prices, wage growth is proceeding rapidly enough that they might make it difficult for price increases to moderate back toward the Fed’s 2 percent annual target. Companies are unlikely to stop raising prices when their labor bills are increasing rapidly, because doing so would eat into and possibly wipe out their profits.The combination of very quick price increases and brisk pay growth is likely to keep the Fed in inflation-fighting mode. Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, said during his news conference this week that officials could raise interest rates by three-quarters of a point again at their next meeting in September, though he did not commit firmly to such a move, given that the Fed has nearly two months between now and their next rate decision.Headline inflation probably cooled in July, because gas prices have dropped sharply this month. It is not yet clear how durable the change will prove, though, and central bankers and consumers have been watching prices increase across a broad array of goods and services beyond just fuel.Inflation has been high for more than a year, and central bankers are focused on trying to restrain demand and drive it lower before it becomes ingrained in the American economy. Once consumers and businesses have learned to expect and accept rapid price increases, it may be harder to quash them.“I really do think that it’s important that we address this now and get it done,” Mr. Powell said at his news conference this week, later adding that “we are assigned uniquely and unconditionally the obligation of providing price stability to the American people. And we’re going to use our tools to do that.” More

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    Federal Reserve Makes Another Supersized Rate Increase to Tame Inflation

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    The central bank raised rates by three-quarters of a percentage point and suggested additional large increases could be warranted.The Federal Reserve chair, Jerome H. Powell, spoke to reporters after officials met to raise rates.Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA, via ShutterstockWASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve continued its campaign of rapid interest rate increases on Wednesday, pushing up borrowing costs at the fastest pace in decades in an effort to wrestle inflation under control.Fed officials voted unanimously at their July meeting for the second supersized rate increase in a row — a three-quarter-point move — and signaled that another large adjustment could be coming at their next meeting in September, though that remains to be decided. The decision on Wednesday puts the Fed’s policy rate in a range of 2.25 to 2.5 percent.The central bank’s brisk moves are intended to slow the economy by making it more expensive to borrow money to buy a house or expand a business, weighing on the housing market and economic activity more broadly. Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, said during a news conference after the meeting that such a cool-down was needed to allow supply to catch up with demand so that inflation could moderate.Mr. Powell acknowledged that the Fed’s policy changes were likely to inflict some economic pain — in particular, weakening the labor market. That has made the central bank’s rate increases unwelcome among some Democrats, who argue that crushing the economy is a crude way to lower today’s inflation rate. But the Fed chair stressed that the economic sacrifice today was necessary to put America back on a sustainable longer-term path with slow and predictable price increases.“We need growth to slow,” Mr. Powell said. “We don’t want this to be bigger than it needs to be, but ultimately, if you think about the medium- to longer term, price stability is what makes the whole economy work.”Stocks surged after the Fed’s decision and Mr. Powell’s news conference. Some rates strategists asked why, because Mr. Powell’s comments aligned with the message Fed officials have consistently sent: Inflation is too high, the central bank is determined to crush it, and interest rates are likely to further increase this year.“There’s a lot of information between now and the September meeting, and I think markets will reassess,” said Priya Misra, head of Global Rates Strategy at TD Securities. “This is an even more data-dependent Fed — and it is going to come down to whether inflation gives them the space to slow down.”The Fed began raising interest rates from near-zero in March, and policymakers have picked up the pace sharply since in reaction to incoming economic data, as price increases have continued to accelerate at an alarming rate.After making a quarter-point move to start, the central bank raised rates by half a point in May and by three-quarters of a point in June, which was the largest single step since 1994. Officials could keep raising rates briskly in September, or they could ease off the pace, depending on how the economy evolves.“We might do another unusually large rate increase,” Mr. Powell said on Wednesday. “But that is not a decision we have made at all.”What the Fed’s Rate Increases Mean for YouCard 1 of 4A toll on borrowers. More

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    How Will Interest Rate Increases Impact Inflation?

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    The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates to fight inflation. Some economists want more; some politicians want less. What’s the logic?The Federal Reserve is expected to announce its fourth interest rate increase of 2022 on Wednesday as it races to tamp down rapid inflation. The moves have a lot of people wondering why rate increases — which raise the cost of borrowing money — are America’s main tool for cooling down prices.Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat, wrote an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday arguing that the Fed’s demand-crushing rate increases are not the right policy to fight today’s inflation as fuel costs and supply chain turmoil push up prices. The policies will hurt workers, she said, and “it doesn’t have to be this way.”Others have argued that the Fed should continue to be forceful. Lawrence H. Summers, the former Democratic Treasury secretary, argued during an interview on CNN this week that the Fed needed to take “strong action” to control inflation and that allowing inflation to gallop out of control would be the “bigger mistake” than causing a recession.Onlookers could be excused for struggling to make sense of the debate. Fed officials themselves acknowledge that their tools are blunt, that they cannot fix broken supply chains and that it will be difficult to slow the economy enough without causing an economic downturn. So why is the Fed doing this?America’s central bank has for decades been what Paul Volcker, its chair in the 1980s, called “the only game in town” when it comes to fighting inflation. While there are things that elected leaders can do to combat rising prices — raising taxes to curb consumption, spending more on education and infrastructure to improve productivity, helping flailing industries — those targeted policies tend to take time. The things that elected policymakers can do quickly generally help mainly around the edges.But time is of the essence when it comes to controlling inflation. If price increases run fast for months or years on end, people begin to adjust their lives accordingly. Workers might ask for higher wages, pushing up labor costs and prompting businesses to charge more. Companies might begin to believe that consumers will accept price increases, making them less vigilant about avoiding them.By making money more expensive to borrow, the Fed’s rate moves work relatively quickly to temper demand. As buying a house or a car or expanding a business becomes pricier, people pull back from doing those things. With fewer consumers and companies competing for the available supply of goods and services, price gains are able to moderate.Unfortunately, that process could come at a hefty cost at a moment like this one. Bringing the economy into balance when supply is constrained — cars are hard to find because of semiconductor shortages, furniture is on back order, and jobs are more plentiful than laborers — could require a big decline in demand. Slowing the economy down that meaningfully could tip off a recession, leaving workers unemployed and families with lower incomes.Economists at Goldman Sachs, for example, estimate that the probability of a recession over the next two years is 50 percent. Already, signs abound that the economy is slowing as the Fed begins to push rates higher, with overall growth data, housing market trackers and some metrics of consumer spending showing a pullback.But central bankers believe that even if the risks are difficult to bear, they are necessary. A downturn that pushes unemployment higher would undoubtedly be painful, but inflation is also a major impediment for many families today. Getting it under control is critical to putting the economy back on a sustainable path, officials argue.“It is essential that we bring inflation down if we are to have a sustained period of strong labor market conditions that benefit all,” Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, said at his news conference last month. More

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    How U.S. Inflation Expectations Are Being Shaped by Consumer Choices

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    How Bacon and Costco Fish Shape America’s View of InflationEconomic policymakers are razor focused on inflation expectations after more than a year of rapid price increases. Consumers explain how they’re thinking about rising costs.Jeanna Smialek and July 27, 2022Inflation started in the bacon aisle for Dan Burnett, a 58-year-old former medical center administrator who lives in Margaretville, N.Y.Last summer, he began to notice that the breakfast staple was increasing sharply in price, jumping to $10 from $8 per pack at his local grocer. Before long, a wide variety of food products were more expensive — so many that he began driving 45 miles to shop at Aldi and Walmart, hoping to score better deals. This summer, it seems that inflation is across the board, pushing up prices on brake repair, hotel rooms and McDonald’s fries.“My biggest fear is that they don’t get it under control, and that it just persists,” Mr. Burnett said. He is thinking about how he might have to reshape his financial future in a world where prices — which had long increased at a rate of 2 percent or less per year — now climb by considerably more.“Once people get this mind-set of ‘You can increase prices and people will just pay it,’ you’re off to the races.” Dan BurnettPeople like Mr. Burnett, who is beginning to believe that America’s price burst might last, are the Federal Reserve’s biggest fear. If consumers and companies expect fast inflation to be a permanent feature of the American economy, they might begin to shift their behavior in ways that cause prices to keep rising. Consumers might begin to accept price increases without shopping around, workers might demand higher pay to cover climbing costs, and businesses might raise prices both to cover their higher labor bills and because they think customers will stomach the heftier price tags.Economists often blame that sort of spiraling inflationary mind-set for fueling rapid price gains in the 1970s and 1980s, a painful episode in which inflation proved difficult to tame. That is why the Fed, which is responsible for keeping inflation under control, has been focusing on a range of inflation expectation measures, hoping that a high-price psychology is not taking hold.Most signs suggest that people still believe that inflation will fade with time. But interpreting inflation expectations is more art than science: Economists disagree about which metrics matter, how to measure them and what could make them change. And after more than a year of rapid price increases, central bank officials are increasingly worried that it’s foolish to take the stability of price expectations for granted. Officials have been rapidly raising interest rates to try to cool the economy and send a signal to the public that they are serious about wrestling price increases lower.“There’s a clock running here, where we have inflation running now for more than a year,” Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, said recently. “It would be bad risk management to just assume those longer-term inflation expectations would remain anchored indefinitely in the face of persistent high inflation. So we’re not doing that.”Central bankers closely watch measures including the University of Michigan’s longer-term inflation outlook survey as they try to judge whether expectations remain under wraps. Those have moved up since 2020, but have not jumped by as much as actual inflation. Still, those trackers show only where expectations are today. They say little about when they might change or what might shift them. To get a more detailed, qualitative sense of how consumers are thinking about inflation, The New York Times asked readers what costs were sticking out to them, how much inflation they expected and how they were forming that opinion. The takeaway: While many people still expect inflation to ease with time, that assumption is a fragile one as many Americans experience the fastest inflation of their adult lives across a broad range of goods and services.Grocery and gas prices are weighing heavily on many people’s minds, consistent with research about how consumers form price expectations. But the particular products raising eyebrows vary widely and expand beyond just food and gas.Guitars, rent and pedicures are getting more expensive in California. Artisan crafts are commanding higher prices in New Mexico.Pedicures are getting more expensive in California.People are coping with the climbing costs in a range of ways. Many said they were cutting consumption, which could help inflation to ease by lowering demand and giving supply a chance to catch up. A few were continuing to buy, hoping that costs would moderate with time. But others were asking for more pay or trying to find other ways to cover their climbing costs while resigning themselves to increasing prices.For Siamac Moghaddam, a 37-year-old who is in the Navy and lives in San Diego, dealing with inflation has been less about cutting down on little things — like the pedicures he enjoys getting, since he is in boots all the time — and more about saving on big expenses, like rent. His landlord recently raised his apartment rent by $200, so he moved out of his two bedroom and into a one bedroom.“Everyone’s adjusting,” he said. He thinks the Fed’s rate increases will bring inflation under control, though in the process, “I think we’re going to suffer economically.”Robert Liberty, 68 and from Portland, Ore., is trying to save on food and travel.“I reached for an avocado in the store, and I jerked back my hand like it was about to be burned when I saw the price — it was $5.50 per avocado,” said Mr. Liberty, a part-time lawyer and consultant whose husband works full time. He thinks inflation will moderate, though he’s unsure how much. For now, an avocado, he said, is “one thing we can do without.”“I quit Starbucks. I had to. I just didn’t feel like that was justifiable. It’s like a small car payment.” Fontaine WeymanFontaine Weyman, a 43-year-old songwriter from Charleston, S.C., is more toward the middle of the inflation-expectations range. Ms. Weyman delivers for Instacart and, with her husband, has a household income of around $80,000. Starbucks has always been her personal indulgence, but she’s cutting it out.“It’s $6.11 for just a Venti iced coffee with a little bit of cold foam on top — that’s like $180 a month,” Ms. Weyman said. While she still believes inflation will fade with time, she and her husband are thinking about how to increase their household income in case it doesn’t.“We know that he’ll most likely get a 5 to 10 percent raise anyway in March, but I’ve asked him to ask for 15 percent,” she said.That pattern — cutting back and hoping for the best but also planning for a possible higher-inflation future — is the one Susan Hsieh is embracing as she watches costs at Costco climb. Ms. Hsieh lives in Armonk, N.Y., with her husband and two teenage children, and has cut back on buying frozen Chilean sea bass fillets as they jump sharply in price, which is sad news for her family.“That fish is really tasty,” she said.Chilean sea bass has become more expensive at Costco.Rising costs across goods and services have also prompted Ms. Hsieh, who works at a branch of the United States Treasury, to ask for higher pay this year. She knew the 2.2 percent raise she was going to get as a typical cost-of-living adjustment was not going to keep up with inflation. She ended up just shy of a 5 percent raise.“I think I’m going to ask again,” she said of her salary negotiation this coming year, assuming inflation sticks around.Mr. Burnett, buyer of bacon, might offer the clearest illustration of why expectations for faster inflation could spell trouble for the Fed if they begin to take hold in earnest. For him, the breadth of today’s price changes makes it hard to believe that inflation will fade soon.Mr. Burnett, who is retired, is thinking about adapting his life accordingly. He co-owns a condominium in Florida with his sister, and maintenance fees on the unit are going up. Though he rents the condo to tenants for only part of the year, he’s likely to pass the full increase onto them.He likes the tenants and doesn’t want to raise rents by so much that he pushes them out, but he could also see himself and his sister charging even more if they notice that neighboring landlords are pushing prices higher.“I really want to make sure that I’m maximizing income,” he said, given the inflation. And he thinks other people will do the same, which is what makes him think inflation is unlikely to fade soon. “Once people get this mind-set of ‘You can increase prices and people will just pay it,’ you’re kind of off to the races.” More

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    Fed Prepares Another Rate Increase as Wall Street Wonders What’s Next

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    Central bankers around the world have been picking up the pace of rate increases. Now the big question looms: When will they slow down?Federal Reserve officials are set to make a second abnormally large interest rate increase this week as they race to cool down an overheating economy. The question for many economists and investors is just how far the central bank will go in its quest to tame inflation.Central banks around the world have spent recent weeks speeding up their interest rate increases, an approach they’ve referred to as “front-loading.” That group includes the Fed, which raised interest rates by a quarter-point in March, a half-point in May and three-quarters of a point in June, its biggest move since 1994. Policymakers have signaled that another three-quarter-point move is likely on Wednesday.The quick moves are meant to show that officials are determined to wrestle inflation lower, hoping to convince businesses and families that today’s rapid inflation won’t last. And, by raising interest rates quickly, officials are aiming to swiftly return policy to a setting at which it is no longer adding to economic growth, because goosing the economy makes little sense at a moment when jobs are plentiful and prices are climbing quickly.But, after Wednesday’s expected move, the Fed’s main policy rate would be right at what policymakers think of as a neutral setting: one that neither helps nor hurts the economy. With rates high enough that they are no longer actively juicing growth, central bankers may feel more comfortable slowing down if they see signs that the economy is beginning to cool. Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chairman, is likely to keep his options open, but economists and analysts will parse every word of his postmeeting news conference on Wednesday for hints at the central bank’s path ahead.“It feels like 75 is kind of in the books — the interesting thing is the forward guidance,” said Michael Feroli, the chief U.S. economist at J.P. Morgan, explaining that he thinks the key question is what will come next. “It’s easier to slow down going forward, because every move will be a move into tightening territory.”The Fed’s latest economic projections released in June suggested that officials would raise rates to 3.4 percent by the end of the year, up from around 1.6 percent now. Many economists have interpreted that to mean that the Fed will raise rates by three-quarters of a point this month, half of a point in September, a quarter-point in November and a quarter-point in December. In other words, it hints that a slowdown is coming.But policy expectations have regularly been upended this year as data surprises officials and inflation proves stubbornly hot. Just this month, investors were speculating that the Fed might make a full percentage-point increase this week, only to simmer down after central bankers and fresh data signaled that a smaller move was more likely.That changeability is a key reason that the Fed is likely to emphasize that it is closely watching economic data as it determines policy. Its next meeting is nearly two months away, in September, so central bankers will most likely want to keep their options open so that they can react to the evolving economic situation.“Much as we’d like Mr. Powell to pull back from the Fed’s recent hyper-aggressive tone, it’s probably too early,” Ian Shepherdson, the chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in a research note ahead of the meeting.Still, there are some reasons to think that the path the Fed set forward in its projections could play out. While inflation has been running at the fastest pace in more than 40 years, it is likely to slow when July data is released because gasoline prices have come down notably this month.And, although inflation expectations had shown signs of jumping higher, one key measure eased in early data out this month. Keeping inflation expectations in check is paramount because consumers and companies might change their behavior if they expect quick inflation to last. Workers could ask for higher pay to cover rising costs, companies might continually lift prices to cover climbing wage bills and the problem of rising prices would be perpetuated.A variety of other metrics of the economy’s strength, from jobless claims to manufacturing measures, point to a slowing business environment. If that cooling continues, it should keep the Fed on track to slow down, said Subadra Rajappa, the head of U.S. rates strategy at Société Générale. While Fed officials want the economy to moderate, they are trying to avoid tipping it into an outright recession.“When you start to see cracks appear in the unemployment measures, they’re going to have to take a much more cautious approach,” Ms. Rajappa said.Markets have been quivering in recent days, concerned that central banks around the world will push their war on inflation too far and tank economies in the process. Investors are increasingly betting that the Fed might lower interest rates next year, presumably because they expect the central bank to set off a downturn.“It is very likely that central banks will hike so quickly that they will overdo it and put their economies into a recession,” said Gennadiy Goldberg, a rates strategist at TD Securities. “That’s what markets are afraid of.”But signs of slowing growth and easing price pressures remain inconclusive, and price increases are still rapid, which is why the Fed is likely to retain its room to maneuver.American employers added 372,000 jobs in June, and wages continue to climb strongly. Consumer spending has eased somewhat, but less than expected. While the housing market is slowing, rents continue to pick up in many markets.Plus, the outlook for inflation is dicey. While gas prices may be slowing for now, risks of a resurgence lie ahead, because, for example, the administration’s efforts to impose a global price cap on Russian oil exports could fall through. Rising rents mean that housing costs could help to keep inflation elevated.While Mr. Powell made clear at his June news conference that three-quarter-point rate increases were out of the ordinary and that he did “not expect” them to be common, Fed officials have also been clear that they would like to see a string of slowing inflation readings before feeling more confident that price increases are coming under control.“We at the Fed have to be very deliberate and intentional about continuing on this path of raising our interest rate until we get and see convincing evidence that inflation has turned a corner,” Loretta Mester, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, said in a Bloomberg interview this month.The central bank will get a fresh reading on the Personal Consumption Expenditures index — its preferred inflation gauge — on Friday. That data will be for June, and it is expected to show continued rapid inflation both on a headline basis and after volatile food and fuel prices are stripped out. The Employment Cost Index, a wage and benefits measure that the Fed watches closely, will also be released that day and is expected to show compensation climbing quickly.Given the recent decline in prices at the gas pump, at least two months of slower inflation readings by September are possible — but not guaranteed.“They cannot prematurely hint that they think victory over inflation is coming,” Mr. Shepherdson of Pantheon wrote. More

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    Global Central Banks Ramp Up Inflation Fight

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    Central banks in the U.S., Europe, Canada and parts of Asia are lifting interest rates rapidly as they try to wrestle breakneck inflation under control.Central bankers around the world are lifting interest rates at an aggressive clip as rapid inflation persists and seeps into a broad array of goods and services, setting the global economy up for a lurch toward more expensive credit, lower stock and bond values and — potentially — a sharp pullback in economic activity.It’s a moment unlike anything the international community has experienced in decades, as countries around the world try to bring rapid price increases under control before they become a more lasting part of the economy.Inflation has surged across many advanced and developing economies since early 2021 as strong demand for goods collided with shortages brought on by the pandemic. Central banks spent months hoping that economies would reopen and shipping routes would unclog, easing supply constraints, and that consumer spending would return to normal. That hasn’t happened, and the war in Ukraine has only intensified the situation by disrupting oil and food supplies, pushing prices even higher.Global economic policymakers began responding in earnest this year, with at least 75 central banks lifting interest rates, many from historically low levels. While policymakers cannot do much to contain high energy prices, higher borrowing costs could help slow consumer and business demand to give supply a chance to catch up across an array of goods and services so that inflation does not continue indefinitely.The European Central Bank will meet this week and is expected to make its first rate increase since 2011, one that officials have signaled will most likely be only a quarter point but will probably be followed by a larger move in September.Other central banks have begun moving more aggressively already, with officials from Canada to the Philippines picking up the pace of rate increases in recent weeks amid fears that consumers and investors are beginning to expect steadily higher prices — a shift that could make inflation a more permanent feature of the economic backdrop. Federal Reserve officials have also hastened their response. They lifted borrowing costs in June by the most since 1994 and suggested that an even bigger move is possible, though several in recent days have suggested that speeding up again is not their preferred plan for the upcoming July meeting and that a second three-quarter-point increase is most likely.As interest rates jump around the world, making money that has been cheap for years more expensive to borrow, they are stoking fears among investors that the global economy could slow sharply — and that some countries could find themselves plunged into painful recessions. Commodity prices, some of which can serve as a barometer of expected consumer demand and global economic health, have dropped as investors grow jittery. International economic officials have warned that the path ahead could prove bumpy as central banks adjust policy and as the war in Ukraine heightens uncertainty.“It is going to be a tough 2022 — and possibly an even tougher 2023, with increased risk of recession,” Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund wrote.Pool photo by Sonny Tumbelaka“It is going to be a tough 2022 — and possibly an even tougher 2023, with increased risk of recession,” Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said in a blog post on Wednesday. Ms. Georgieva argued that central banks need to react to inflation, saying that “acting now will hurt less than acting later.”Ms. Georgieva pointed out that about three-quarters of the institutions the fund tracks have raised interest rates since July 2021. Developed economies have lifted them by 1.7 percentage points on average, while emerging economies have moved by more than 3 percentage points.8 Signs That the Economy Is Losing SteamCard 1 of 9Worrying outlook. More

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    Stock Market Drop Accelerated as Recession Seemed More Likely

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    Further losses may be on the way, even after a 20 percent drop in the first half of the year, as Wall Street continues to price in the Fed’s aggressive interest rate policy.Investors had an awful start to the year as stocks twice entered bear market territory, falling more than 20 percent. Stocks didn’t hang there long the first time, but the second drop has proved more durable, as Wall Street has come to accept that inflation is more persistent and that the Federal Reserve will have to be more aggressive in combating it.The S&P 500 lost 16.4 percent in the second quarter, leaving it 20.6 percent below its level at the end of 2021.Where to now? While a bounce in stocks certainly seems due, investment advisers say a lasting recovery is unlikely for now. They warn that a recession is probably on the way, if it’s not here already, and that valuations remain high, even after the big decline.“I think we’re in for a lot more pain, probably, in U.S. stocks,” said Meb Faber, chief investment officer of Cambria Investment Management. “Just to get back to historical valuations, we could easily go down a third from here.”Ella Hoxha, a manager of global bond portfolios for Pictet Asset Management, said expectations still haven’t been adjusted to incorporate the likely risk of a recession. It may seem surprising that a recession could catch Wall Street by surprise when the conversation there is about little else. But until recently, Wall Street played down its chances and talked up the prospects of a soft landing, in which growth slows but the economy avoids major, prolonged disruption.“The odds of a recession have gone up, but the markets have not fully priced in the recession case yet,” Ms. Hoxha said. “Not only is the Fed having to correct being too dovish last year, it has to unwind its balance sheet” by selling the bonds and other securities it bought to support the economy and markets.Mutual FundsHighlights of mutual fund performance in the second quarter. More