Macro Briefing: 1 May 2024

* US home prices increased again in March, reaching new record high
* Worker pay rose more than forecast in Q1, highlighting sticky inflation
* S. Korea export growth–a global bellwether for trade–accelerated in April
* Major US newspapers sue OpenAI, Microsoft for copyright infringement
* Election year politics are complicating the Fed’s policy decisions
* US consumer confidence index falls in April to lowest level in nearly 2 years:

The Federal Reserve is expected to leave its 5.25%-to-5.50% target rate unchanged in today’s policy announcement (2:00pm eastern), based on implied probabilities via futures. The market is currently projecting that rates will stay unchanged well beyond today’s FOMC meeting.