(Reuters) -The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits ticked up in the latest week, but appeared to be steadying near a level consistent with a gradual cooling of the labor market that should set the stage for the Federal Reserve to kick off interest rate cuts next month. A slowdown in overall U.S. business activity this month as firms faced diminished ability to push through price increases added to the evidence that the economy is slowing and inflation is downshifting to a degree that should allow Fed officials to focus more attention on the job market. With a rate cut now broadly expected next month, interest rates on home loans have already begun dropping, and that helped fuel a larger-than-expected rebound in existing home sales last month.

(Bloomberg) -- Traders are overplaying the prospects of an aggressive series of Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts before the end of the year, according to Mohamed El-Erian. Most Read from BloombergChicago's Migrant Surge Is Stirring Trouble for Democrats in DNC Host CityUK Transport Minister Clears Path for More 20mph Speed ZonesWith Self-Driving Vans, Hamburg Tries to Make Microtransit WorkThe Serious Work That Free Play Can Do“It is problematic in my mind that the market is pricing in so many

(Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker said economic data in the coming weeks will help inform the appropriate magnitude of the US central bank’s first interest-rate cut.Most Read from BloombergChicago's Migrant Surge Is Stirring Trouble for Democrats in DNC Host CityUK Transport Minister Clears Path for More 20mph Speed ZonesWith Self-Driving Vans, Hamburg Tries to Make Microtransit WorkThe Serious Work That Free Play Can Do“In September we need to start a

It will soon be appropriate for the Federal Reserve to begin a rate-cutting cycle, Boston Fed President Susan Collins said on Thursday, signaling her likely support for a rate cut at the U.S. central bank's policy meeting next month. "We've seen quite a lot of reduction in inflation. The reduction to me is consistent with more confidence that we are on that trajectory and with labor markets healthy overall, I do think that soon it is appropriate to begin easing," Collins said in an interview with Fox Business.

(Bloomberg) -- The crew of a ship that suffered several attacks in the Red Sea has been evacuated with naval support. Most Read from BloombergChicago's Migrant Surge Is Stirring Trouble for Democrats in DNC Host CityUK Transport Minister Clears Path for More 20mph Speed ZonesWith Self-Driving Vans, Hamburg Tries to Make Microtransit WorkThe Serious Work That Free Play Can DoDelta Tankers, which operates the Sounion, said Thursday that plans are now in place to move the vessel to a safer destinat

(Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Jeffrey Schmid said he wants to see more economic data before supporting any decision to begin reducing interest rates. Most Read from BloombergChicago's Migrant Surge Is Stirring Trouble for Democrats in DNC Host CityUK Transport Minister Clears Path for More 20mph Speed ZonesWith Self-Driving Vans, Hamburg Tries to Make Microtransit WorkThe Serious Work That Free Play Can DoSchmid, speaking with Michael McKee in a Bloomberg TV interv

"We've got some data sets to come in before September," Schmid said in an interview with broadcaster CNBC at the start of the annual global central bankers' conference hosted by the regional Fed bank in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in reference to the Fed's next policy meeting on Sept. 17-18. "It bears looking harder at it," he said of the unemployment rate. The U.S. central bank is widely expected to begin reducing its benchmark policy rate at its upcoming meeting, with most Fed officials buoyed by encouraging inflation data and increasingly anxious about the health of the job market.

Central bankers from around the world fly into Jackson Hole, Wyoming, this week to attend what has become the globe's premier economic gathering, the Kansas City Federal Reserve's annual symposium in Grand Teton National Park. The event draws keen investor attention, and - depending on what the world's most influential monetary policymakers say in formal remarks and in interviews on the sidelines - sometimes delivers a rough ride for markets. In recent years the guest list of about 120 has included most of the Fed's 19 policymakers, and a few dozen central bankers from Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas and elsewhere.