In the last week of January, for the first time since April 2020 when the COVID War began, more than half of U.S. white-collar workers spent time in central locations, according to data from Kastle Systems, which measures swipe-card use in more than 2,000 office buildings in 10 major metro areas.
In November, U.S. home prices declined 0.6 percent from October, falling for the fifth consecutive month, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index.
A fifth of U.S. bond issues now rated as being in distress were issued by healthcare corporations, according to ICE Data Services.
For the Plantation Workers of Slavelandia, inflation and rising interest rates combined pushed U.S. credit card debt to a record $930.6 billion at the end of 2022. This was an 18.5 percent jump from a year previous, according to credit rating service TransUnion.
U.S. employers spent only 1 percent more on wages and benefits in last year’s final three months than in the previous quarter, the Labor Department reported, even though they claim the economy added almost 750,000 new jobs during the period.
The U.S. economy sprouted 517,000 jobs last month, the labor department reported, almost double December’s 260,000 and nearly three times the 185,000 consensus forecast among analysts polled by Dow Jones.
Consumers are still enthralled with travel after being locked down for more than a year during the COVID War and stock prices of travel-related companies are rising like fully-loaded airplanes out of O’Hare.
Investors were cheered last week to hear the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, and U.S. Federal Reserve all declare that inflation is easing.
On 1 February, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its key federal funds interest rate by a quarter point, the seventh and smallest hike since May 2022.
U.S. equity markets slipped Friday on news that the economy added 517,000 jobs in January, raising concerns that the U.S. Federal Reserve might keep interest rates higher longer.