Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT

China, the world’s second-largest economy, has been paralyzed for more than three weeks. The country has been at a virtual standstill since the New Year holiday ended at the beginning of February. While now getting back to business, much of China’s industry has been shut down, people have steered clear of stores and restaurants, and...

With business investment declining in three out of four quarters in 2019 and industrial production down 0.3 percent in January from the prior month, among the jobs that are growing are in warehousing, trucking, and delivery. Courier and messenger services added 14,300 jobs, expanding for the 11 month in a row. Warehousing and storage added...

With China’s virus outbreak slowing the country’s growth and dampening world trade, investors have been holding tight to U.S.-based assets. The result: the dollar has reached its highest point since October in the Wall Street Journal’s WSJ Dollar Index. The strong dollar makes U.S. goods and commodities denominated in dollars more expensive outside of the...

Almost a third of Americans, including many earning six-figure incomes, run out of money between paychecks “always” or “most of the time,” according to a Salary Finance survey of more than 2,700 adults working at medium-size or large companies. The smaller the paycheck, the more common the problem: 40 percent of people earning under $25,000...

As we go to press, the major averages are down, coming off a record-setting week of setting all-time highs. Worries about the spread of the coronavirus and the warning from tech giant Apple over the virus’s impact on corporate profits and the global economy have pushed equites lower in Asia, Europe, and the U.S. China’s...

Argentina has suspended all payments on its $57-billion debt to the International Monetary Fund. Vice president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced on Saturday that her country will not pay “even half a cent” until Argentina’s recession is over. The way a country ends a recession is through “a lot of state investment,” she added, which...

India’s government has unveiled a plan to raise $30 billion in the new fiscal year by selling state-owned businesses and other public assets. Among those assets are portions of the Life Insurance Corporation of India, various government-owned banks, and the money-losing Air India airline. The fund-raiser is meant to help the government cut its deficit....

Donald Trump reportedly vented “apoplectic” fury at Boris Johnson in a phone call last week after the British prime minister’s decision to use technology from the Chinese tech giant Huawei in the UK’s 5G network. The U.S. government has accused Huawei of stealing sensitive American technology and has banned U.S. companies from selling technology to...

In early January, following America’s assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, tensions escalated in the Middle East driving Brent crude to $70 per barrel. Then, as data from the U.S., Europe, and Asia supported a slowing global economy, followed by Coronavirus fears, oil prices, now at around $54 a barrel for Brent crude, have hit...

The People’s Bank of China – the country’s central bank – offered $173 billion in cash to overnight markets as they opened last week after being closed from 24 January through 3 February for the Chinese New Year holiday. Because many short-term bonds matured the same day, the available cash nets to about $150 billion....