As expected, U.S. factories received fewer new orders in April after customers surged their inventories in March to beat Donald Trump’s 2 April “Liberation Day” tariff announcement.
Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT – Jun 10 2025
IS OFFICIAL U.S. INFLATION DATA STILL ACCURATE?
Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) told a group of economists that a federal hiring freeze had left it unable to contact the usual number of businesses it uses to monitor price changes.
PRIVATE CREDIT COULD BE “LOCUS OF CONTAGION” IN A FINANCIAL CRISIS
Lending by private equity firms and other nonbank financial businesses has become so widespread that it could become a “locus of contagion” in any new financial crisis, a research group that includes researchers from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Moody’s Analytics said last week.
WALL STREET DISCOVERS THAT THE U.S. NATIONAL DEBT IS A PROBLEM
Now that the U.S. government’s interest payments on the national debt have topped $1 trillion—about 14 percent of the annual federal budget—more of the financial industry’s leaders are speaking, and speaking more urgently, about it.
U.S. MANUFACTURING SLOWS FURTHER IN MAY
U.S. factories’ output diminished a little more last month as manufacturers hesitated to make commitments amid Donald Trump’s swirling trade policies, The Wall Street Journal reported.
AS FORECAST, PRES. TRUMP DEMANDS FED LOWER INTEREST RATES
As we had long forecast, President Trump will keep pushing the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. After the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the U.S. economy added 139,000 jobs in May—more than expected—Donald Trump took to social media to demand that the U.S. Federal Reserve and its Chairman Jerome Powell lower the central bank’s interest rate.
U.S. ECONOMY ADDED 139,000 JOBS IN MAY
The number of U.S. nonfarm jobs grew by 139,000 last month, less than the adjusted 147,000 in April but still more than the 125,000 economists forecasted in a Dow Jones poll.
LAYOFFS UP 47 PERCENT IN MAY FROM A YEAR EARLIER
In May, U.S. businesses announced they plan to drop about 100,000 workers from their payrolls, 47 percent more than were announced in May 2024, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported in new data.
ECONOMIC UPDATE—MARKET OVERVIEW
So here is the economic deal. The world equity markets are basically on hold. Why? Because The Street is waiting to know the details of the trade deal now being negotiated in London between the United States and China.
FED’S BEIGE BOOK TAKES ON A DARKER SHADE
The U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest Beige Book, a collection of anecdotes and snapshots of business conditions around the country, shows flat hiring, rising costs, and a contraction in the U.S. economy. “Economic activity has declined slightly since the previous report,” which was released on 23 April, the central bank said in a statement. ......