Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT – Aug 22 2023

Yum Brands, which owns fast-food icons Burger King, KFC, and Taco Bell, wants its customers to place all of their orders digitally and is taking steps to make that goal a reality.

In summer 2022, Congress passed the Chips and Science Act that allotted $39 billion to strengthen the domestic semiconductor industry. 

Last week, Americans dumped about $36 billion into money market funds to take advantage of yields that have shot past 5 percent, a rate of return not seen for more than a decade.

The national average interest rate on the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage in the U.S. reached 7.09 percent last week, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. reported, up from 6.96 percent the week before to reach its highest since April 2002.

In July, U.S. consumers spent 0.7 percent more dollars compared to June and 3.2 percent more than a year earlier, the commerce department reported. Retail sales on items other than energy and food were up 1.0 percent from the month before.

During the 14 years that the U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates low, the U.S. government borrowed freely to haul the economy out of the Great Recession, continue to fight the Afghan war, and bail out businesses and consumers during the COVID War.

On 17 August, the benchmark 10-year treasury note closed at 4.307 percent, which was its highest close since 2007. The 30-year treasury bond was paying 4.411 percent on the same day.