This is our 24th week reporting the long trend-line of layoffs that signal a further economic downturn in a country near you. Inflation and interest rate hikes are causing companies in many sectors to lay off employees. An average of 1,600 tech workers have been laid off every single day of 2023 so far.
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TOP 2015 TREND, THE DRIVERLESS CLIFF: CAR MAKERS’ NEW MANTRA = “SEXY REALISM”
At this month’s annual Consumer Electronics Show, self-driving cars and other blue-sky projects were largely absent from the space devoted to new vehicle tech.
U.S. INDEPENDENT RESTAURANTS SUCCUMBING TO INFLATION
In December, more than half of U.S. restaurants had trouble paying their rent, according to data service Alignable, compared to less than a third a year earlier.
FEDERAL BUDGET CHASM WIDENED IN DECEMBER
The U.S. government ran $85 billion worth of red ink last month, the treasury department reported. A year earlier, the deficit was $21 billion.
BIG BANKS EXPECT A RECESSION
Analysts at the four biggest U.S. banks expect rising interest rates to drive the American economy into a recession this year, according to The Wall Street Journal.
INFLATION CONTINUED TO SLOW IN DECEMBER
In December, the rate of U.S. inflation slowed to 6.5 percent from November’s 7.1 percent, marking the Consumer Price Index’s (CPI) sixth consecutive month of decline after peaking last June.
WILL THE FED CUT RATES THIS YEAR?
Equity markets bounced last week, partly on news that inflation continues to slow. That is persuading a growing number of money managers that the U.S. Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates this year.
GUESSING GAME: FED TO RAISE RATES ONLY 25 BASIS POINTS NEXT MONTH
As we note in the ECONOMIC UPDATE section of this week’s Trends Journal, the bet on The Streets is that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates only a quarter of a percent on 1 February. Slower growth in consumer prices and wages has made it almost certain that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise its key interest rate by only a quarter point next month, after raising it three-quarters of a point four times last year and by a half point twice, according to the Financial Times.
BONDS ARE BACK
After tanking last year, bonds are poised to record their best January performance since 1991 as investors see inflation declining across the world’s leading economies, the Financial Times reported.
HOOKED ON ‘LIKES’? SOCIAL MEDIA COULD CHANGE TEEN BRAIN FUNCTIONS: STUDY
A newly released study suggests that the more a teenager interacts on social media, the more likely it is that they will become “hypersensitive to feedback from their peers.”Researchers from the University of North Carolina noted that in adolescence, the brain sees “structural and functional reorganization changes” that are important in its development. The study was......