Companies making industrial robots fielded orders for about 29,000 machines worth $1.48 billion this year through September, besting 2017’s record of $1.47 billion set over the same period and speeding past the $1.09 billion worth of robots sold in the first nine months of last year, according to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). “With...
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‘THE GREAT RESIGNATION’: WILL JOBS COME BACK?
About 4.43 million Americans quit their jobs in September, which is the most on record since December 2000, in a shift that some have called “The Great Resignation,” according to the Labor Department. The resignations were seen as a positive sign for the jobs market due to the optimism these workers have that they’ll land...
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RECORD QUIT RATES: TAKE YOUR JOB AND SHOVE IT
On 5 November, 11.2 million U.S. jobs stood vacant, 50 percent more than the 7.4 million unemployed American workers, according to employment website Indeed. Three percent of the entire labor force—about 4.4 million workers—quit their jobs in September, a record number. More than 10 million jobs have remained open since June, the U.S. labor department...
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FOOD PRICE INDEX SPIKES 31 PERCENT, PUTS STRAIN ON SHOPPERS
The food price index rose at an annual rate of 31 percent in October due to a plethora of reasons, including droughts, bad weather, and global supply chain issues. Henryk Kowalczyk, Poland’s agriculture minister, told the Financial Times that a global “food prices crisis” could be looming and could contribute to the strain on the...
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BOND MARKET WAKES UP TO INFLATION
On 10 November, the day the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that October’s inflation rate spiked to 6.2 percent, the U.S. bond market finally seemed to take note of rising prices. After showing no awareness of inflation for months, both short-term and long-term treasury bonds fell in price and yields for both rose. As...
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INFLATION ROARS AT FASTEST PACE IN 31 YEARS
October’s U.S. inflation rate sped to 6.2 percent, its fastest since 1990, as prices rose throughout the economy, touching everything from groceries to cars as consumers continued spending without restraint. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) gained 0.9 percent from September. October marked the fifth consecutive month in which inflation grew by at least 5 percent,...
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NIGERIA CREATES AFRICA’S FIRST CRYPTOCURRENCY
On 25 October, the Central Bank of Nigeria issued the eNaira, Africa’s first digital currency. The continent’s most populous country has now joined six Caribbean nations that previously have welcomed electronic currencies. In the currency’s first 10 days in circulation, more than 400,000 people created digital wallets to accept the eNaira, the bank reported. The...
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NFTs COULD BE “BIGGER THAN CRYPTO,” COINBASE CEO SAYS
The market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) could eclipse that for cryptocurrencies, Brian Armstrong, co-founder of crypto exchange Coinbase Global, said in a conference call last week. A non-fungible token is a unique collectible traded and stored on the web, the digital equivalent of a painting, celebrity’s autograph, or baseball card. Coinbase will launch its own...
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BELARUS VS. EU: AND THE WINNER IS?
Poland and Brussels, as of late, seem to make strange bedfellows. The European Union has been fierce in its criticism of a recent court ruling in Warsaw that Brussels claims run counter to its standards for nations. The disagreement grew to the point where there were rumors that Poland could plan to leave the union....
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BLINKEN BELLOWS: U.S. COMMITTED TO UKRAINE’S SOVEREIGNTY IS ‘IRONCLAD’
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised his Ukrainian counterpart that America’s support for Kyiv is “ironclad” amid new tensions with Russia, saying the “international community will see through any Russian effort to resort to its previous tactics.” The Trends Journal has covered the tension in the region extensively. (See “U.S. VOWS UKRAINE SUPPORT,” “PUTIN...