Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT

The Fed’s 3 March rate cut has dropped U.S. mortgage interest rates to historic lows just as real estate’s prime selling season begins. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage has fallen from 3.45 percent to the never-before-seen 3.29, according to lender Freddie Mac. Mortgage rates are closely linked to those of 10-year Treasury...

The New York Federal Reserve is increasing its available amount of overnight loans to banks from $100 billion to $150 billion through Thursday of last week to ensure that banks and trading houses have the cash needed to keep the markets from melting down. As well as increasing the overnight amount, the bank also is...

Despite the U.S. Federal Reserve’s 3 March rate cut of 0.5 percent, which took the yield on 10-year Treasury notes to a historic lows, it failed to slow the stock markets’ slide. As Fed chair Jerome Powell was announcing the cut and answering reporters’ questions last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell another 603...

The coronavirus economic panic has raised the risk that more corporations will default on their debts, already at record levels, especially in the junk bond market. At the same time, the global economy is slowing and the credit market is tightening. That makes it more difficult for corporations to roll over debt. Also, as conditions...

Before the coronavirus hit Italy, its economy barely rebounded from the Panic of ’08. Now, following the government’s decision to lock down the entire nation, it risks diving deep into recession. Tourism, which accounts for 13 percent of its GDP, is dead. Italian manufacturers are flooded with canceled orders – perhaps not entirely a bad...

Canopy Growth, the Canadian cannabis company with the largest market capitalization at about $5.8 billion, is closing three million square feet of greenhouse space in British Columbia, laying off 500 workers, and abandoning plans for a new Ottawa growing center. The cutbacks will result in a charge of as much as $800 million to the...

In response to a slowing global economy and coronavirus fall out, one after another, central banks of developed nations have slashed interest rates. The Reserve Bank of Australia cut its rate to a record low 0.05 percent. The U.S. Federal Reserve slashed interest rates 50 basis points, the sharpest rate cut since the Panic of...

The weeks-long equity market rout paused only briefly last week, but stocks weren’t able to hold their ground. On 4 March, U.S. stocks blipped up 1,173 points, the second-highest point gain ever. Analysts tied the rise to soaring health care stock prices after the Democratic primary’s Super Tuesday, in which Joe Biden scored decisive victories...

In addition to infecting virtually every media headline and lead story, the coronavirus has spread deep into the body politic, the global economy, and equity markets. Seizing on the coronavirus outbreak, political hacks – not an array of qualified doctors and health experts in relevant fields – have taken full control of nations, states, and...

A manufacturing slowdown is one of several factors that has led Italy to tell its European Union partners that the country is unlikely to meet its economic performance projections because of the coronavirus outbreak.   It also has warned the union that members should be ready to offer aid if Italy’s economy is severely damaged...