Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT – Feb 21 2023

The dollar volume of U.S. retail sales last month shot up 3 percent from December’s total, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, beating analysts’ prediction of a 1.8-percent rise.

Current federal spending trends will add $19 trillion to the U.S. national debt over the next ten years, $3 trillion more than previously estimated, because of additional expenses in interest payments, military budgets, and retirement and veterans benefits, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said in a 15 February report.

Household incomes are rising, the economy is adding jobs, and consumers spent 3 percent more money in January than in December, following two months of decline. 

A U.S. recession will arrive in the second half of this year, bogging down stock prices, Bank of America analysts predicted in a report last week.

Since 1 January, funds around the world investing in investment-grade corporate bonds—a category that excludes junk bonds—have taken in about $19 billion in new cash, the Financial Times reported, a record amount at this point in any year.

In recent weeks, markets had banked on the idea that the U.S. Federal Reserve would either continue to increase its key interest rate modestly, hold rates where they are, or even cut them.