Month: November 2024

The Labor Department on Wednesday said that the consumer price index (CPI) – a broad measure of how much everyday goods like gasoline, groceries and rent cost – rose 0.2% in October from the prior month and was up 2.6% from a year ago.

So-called core prices, which exclude more volatile measurements of gasoline and food to better assess price growth trends, were up 0.3% on a monthly basis in October and 3.3% from a year ago – both of which were unchanged compared with last month’s readings.

Over half of the rise in CPI was caused by shelter prices, which rose 0.4% in October on a monthly basis, while food prices were up 0.2% and energy prices were unchanged. Core CPI’s rise was due in part to prices for used cars and trucks rising by 2.7% compared with September.

Food prices were up 0.2% on a monthly basis and 2.1% from a year ago, though food away from home was up 3.8% in that period.

Energy prices are down 4.9% compared to a year ago, with gasoline down 12.4%. However, electricity prices are up 4% while utility gas service is up 4.5%.

Shelter prices are also up 4.9% from last year, while the cost of transportation services increased 8.2% and medical care services by 3.8% in that period. Each of those rose 0.4% on a monthly basis.

Devin LeMahieu will return as the Republican majority leader of the Wisconsin Senate.

The GOP caucus elected LeMahieu to the position during a meeting Thursday. LeMehieu said in a news release that the top issue for Republicans this legislative session will be returning the state’s funding surplus to families.

LeMahieu, of Oostburg, has represented parts of Manitowoc, Sheboygan and Fond du Lac counties in the Legislature since 2015. He served as majority leader during the 2021-22 and 2023-24 sessions.

He’ll preside over a smaller majority this session. Bolstered by new district boundaries that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers enacted last year, Democrats flipped four Republican districts in Tuesday’s election and shrank the GOP majority from 22-11 to 18-15.

Customers of We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service will pay more for electricity in 2025 and 2026, after the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin on Thursday approved rate increases for both utilities.

In the We Energies case, the commission approved a 8.79 percent overall electric rate increase over the next two years. The PSC says that’s roughly $188 million less than the utility had requested over that span.

It translates into a $7.62 increase in monthly electric bills in 2025 for an average residential We Energies customer, and a $9.73 increase in 2026, according to preliminary estimates from the PSC. That’s a cumulative increase of 12.38 percent over two years, the PSC says.

In Wisconsin Public Service’s case, the commission approved a 7.33 percent overall electric rate increase over the next two years. The PSC says that’s roughly $134 million less than the utility had requested over that span.

It translates into an estimated $7.11 increase in 2025 on an average residential customer’s monthly electric bill, followed by another $5.04 average monthly increase in 2026, according to estimates from the PSC. That’s a cumulative increase of 11.52 percent over the two years, the PSC says.

The Federal Reserve approved its second consecutive interest rate cut Thursday, moving at a less aggressive pace than before but continuing its efforts to right-size monetary policy.

In a follow-up to September’s big half percentage point reduction, the Federal Open Market Committee lowered its benchmark overnight borrowing rate by a quarter percentage point, or 25 basis points, to a target range of 4.50%-4.75%. The rate sets what banks charge each other for overnight lending but often influences consumer debt instruments such as mortgages, credit cards and auto loans.

The post-meeting statement reflected a few tweaks in how the Fed views the economy. Among them was an altered view in how it assesses the effort to bring down inflation while supporting the labor market.

“The Committee judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals are roughly in balance,” the document said, a change from September when it noted “greater confidence” in the process.

Officials have largely framed the change in policy as an attempt to get the rate structure back in line with an economy where inflation is drifting back to the central bank’s 2% target while the labor market has shown some indications of softening. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has spoken of “recalibrating” policy back to where it no longer needs to be as restrictive as it was when the central bank focused almost solely on taming inflation.

“This further recalibration of our policy stance will help maintain the strength of the economy and the labor market and will continue to enable further progress on inflation as we move towards a more neutral stance,” Powell said at his post-meeting news conference.

Preliminary results show many Wisconsin school districts successfully made the case to voters Tuesday that schools were in need of additional tax support.

Voters in 137 school districts were asked to approve increased funding for schools. A preliminary analysis by the Wisconsin Policy Forum found 107 referendum questions passed, while 30 failed.

School districts are funded by a mix of taxpayer dollars, state and federal aid.

The 2023-25 state budget included an annual funding increase for public schools of $325 per student to the state-imposed limit on revenues districts can receive in school aids and local property taxes combined.

While this provides some relief, school districts say it didn’t catch them up from a freeze in state revenue caps in the previous two-year budget, or the declining enrollment many public school districts are experiencing.

Republicans emerged from Tuesday’s elections still in complete control of the Wisconsin Legislature, overcoming new district boundaries that Democrats had hoped would give them a chance at finally making major inroads in both chambers.

As of early Wednesday morning, the GOP had held six of 10 Republican Senate districts up this cycle, ensuring themselves of at least an 18-seat majority. Democrats managed to flip one district, ending the GOP’s 22-seat supermajority and preventing Republicans from overriding any vetoes from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

Democrats had better luck in the Assembly, flipping a handful of districts, but it wasn’t enough. As of early Wednesday morning Republicans had still amassed at least 50 seats, guaranteeing them control.

The GOP has controlled both chambers for most of the last 13 years. They’ve used their majorities to neuter public employee unions, legalize concealed weapons, scale back diversity initiatives and tighten voting rules.

Democrats had hoped this election cycle would be different after liberal justices took control of the state Supreme Court in 2023, clearing the way for Evers to draw new district boundaries that spread out Republican voters.

Boeing machinists approved a new labor deal Monday, ending a costly seven-week strike that halted most of the company’s aircraft production.

Machinists voted 59% in favor of the new contract, which includes 38% wage increases over four years and other improvements.

Boeing said machinist pay will average $119,309 at the end of this contract proposal. The first wage rise will be 13%. The contract also increases 401(k) contributions and a signing bonus of up to $12,000 or a combination of a $7,000 bonus and $5,000 401(k) deposit.

Boeing will now be able to resume production, key to its recovery since the bulk of the aircraft price is paid when they are handed over to customers. But getting up to target production rates, particularly for the 737 Max, Boeing’s cash cow, will take time.

“While the strike ending and workers returning to the shopfloor is a meaningful step in the right direction, ramping back up will take time,” said Bank of America aerospace analyst Ron Epstein. He said some workers will need to be retrained.

The machinists, who build planes such as the bestselling 737 Max, 777 and 767 aircraft must return to their jobs no later than November 12 the union said. They could return as early as Wednesday.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS)  on Friday announced that it increased the amount that individuals can contribute to their 401(k) and other retirement plans to account for inflation.

Each year, the IRS reviews tax thresholds and limitations for various retirement accounts and considers making a cost-of-living adjustment based on the impact of inflation since the previous change occurred.

For the 2025 tax year, the IRS is increasing the annual contribution limit for 401(k) plans by $500 from the current limit of $23,000 in 2024 to $23,500 in 2025.

Those limits also apply to several other retirement plans and will undergo the same increase for the 2025 tax year, including 403(b) retirement plans, governmental 457 plans and the federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan.

The IRS also considers adjustments to the contribution limits for Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), including traditional and Roth IRAs. However, the IRS will hold the IRA annual contribution limits constant from 2024 to 2025 at $7,000. It’s also maintaining the IRA catch-up contribution limit for individuals aged 50 and over at $1,000 for 2025.

The catch-up contribution limit that applies to employees aged 50 and up enrolled in most 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457 plans and the Thrift Savings Plan remain at $7,500 for 2025. Workers who are 50 and older can generally contribute up to $31,000 annually to those retirement plans starting in 2025 under changes made with the enactment of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022.

For individual taxpayers who are also covered by a workplace retirement plan, the traditional IRA contribution tax deduction phase-out range is being increased to between $79,000 and $89,000 — up from $77,000 and $87,000. For married couples filing joint tax returns, the phase-out range rises to between $126,000 and $146,000, an increase of $3,000 from last year.

The income phase-out range for taxpayers who are contributing to a Roth IRA increased to between $150,000 and $165,000 for individuals and heads of households — up from between $146,000 and $161,000. For married couples filing jointly, the phase-out range rises by $6,000 to between $236,000 and $246,000.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 12,000 for the month, down sharply from September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. In what had already been expected to be a downbeat report, October posted the smallest gain since December 2020.

The unemployment rate, however, held at 4.1%, in line with expectations. A broader measure of unemployment that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time jobs for economic reasons also was unchanged at 7.7%.

In the report narrative, the BLS noted that the Boeing strike likely subtracted 44,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector, which lost 46,000 positions overall.

Health care and government again led job creation, respectively adding 52,000 and 40,000 positions. Several sectors, though, saw job losses.

In addition to the expected pullback in manufacturing, temporary help services saw a drop of 49,000. The category is sometimes seen as a proxy for underlying job strength and has seen a decline of 577,000 since March 2022, the BLS said.

Another leading sector, leisure and hospitality, saw a drop of 4,000, while retail trade and transportation and warehousing also reported modest declines.