Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT

While wages are not keeping up with inflation, on the home front it’s much worse. Typical residential rents in the U.S. rose 0.6 percent in February, the largest single-month jump since 1987, the U.S. Labor Department reported. The surge accounted for 40 percent of the month’s 0.4-percentage-point monthly gain in the core Consumer Price Index,...

About 4.3 million Americans quit their jobs in January, the eighth consecutive month in which resignations topped four million, the U.S. labor department reported. The number dipped slightly from December’s 4.4 million and November’s record 4.5 million, but remains near a record level. Monthly quits before the COVID era averaged about 3.5 million, Business Insider...

Go back to the Trump years, when the word on The Street, nearly every time stock prices moved lower, they would blame it on the “Trade War,” which we kept noting had zero to do with the market moves because it was all talk and no action.  Bingo! The U.S. trade deficit expanded by 9.4...

Goldman Sachs analysts see the U.S. economy growing by 1.75 percent from 2021’s fourth quarter through this year’s third quarter, down from 2 percent they had foreseen earlier. The chances of a recession this year have grown as high as 35 percent, which is “currently implied by models,” they added. The yield curve for U.S....

New claims for unemployment benefits edged up 11,000 in the most recent week to 227,000, the U.S. labor department reported. The gain increased the benchmark four-week average by 500 to 231,250. Continuing claims rose fractionally from 1.47 million in the previous week to 1.49 million. Jobless claims have been trending down since a slight bump...

Only 18 percent of U.S. workers feel their pay is keeping pace with inflation, according to a Capital One Insights Center poll released earlier this month. The number drops to 9 percent among households earning less than $25,000. However, 31 percent of high-income earners reported incomes that matched inflation. However, “higher earners are struggling to...

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) swelled by 7.9 percent from February 2021 through February 2022, the U.S. labor department reported, the fastest clip since January 1982’s 8.4 percent when the country was gripped by dragflation, a combination of rising prices and a shrinking economy. Prices rose 0.8 percent from January through February. The hike edged...

LAST WEEK: U.S. STOCKS SINK FOR FIFTH CONSECUTIVE WEEK Burdened by a new record inflation rate and the uncertainties of the Ukraine War, last week, U.S. equities closed down for the fifth week in a row, with tech stocks leading indexes down. Stock prices bumped up early Friday after Russian president Vladimir Putin said there...

The Biden administration has finalized rules that will require products purchased by the federal government to have 60 percent of their value in components manufactured in the U.S., 65 percent in 2024, and 75 percent in 2029. At a 4 March White House event outlining the rules, Siemens USA CEO Barbara Humpton announced a $54-million...

U.S. wages rose 5.1 percent in February, year on year, throttling back from January’s 5.5-percent gain, the labor department reported. Wages have increased by 5 percent or more in four of the past five months, The Wall Street Journal noted.  In contrast, wages rose an average of 3.2 percent in the two years ending February...