Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT

Last week the word was that U.S. equity markets softened as investors face a growing likelihood that the COVID virus’s Delta variant will slow economic growth and possibly end the markets’ current record-setting bull run. That’s what we had forecast and the Financial Times reported. Figures showing U.S. retail sales slowing, a slowdown in China’s...

After a meteoric rise, the market for SPACs is plunging back to Earth. (See “Gamblers Dump SPACs,” Trends Journal, 25 May 2021.) A SPAC is a company that makes no product, performs no service, nor markets anything other than itself. Investors buy shares, often priced at $10 each, and the money is put into a...

Despite recovering some lost ground on Friday, stocks finished last week with a deficit.  For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up 1.1 percent, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index 0.6 percent, and NASDAQ 0.7 percent. Figures showing a slowdown in China’s growth, weakening consumer confidence, softer retail sales, and rising numbers of...

Each week, we report at least one instance where the money junky hedge funds, private equity groups and the already big company swallows another piece of the global economy. Last week, we saw several and note them in the following articles… POULTRY INDUSTRY SEES TWO BIG TAKEOVERS. Food giants Cargill and Continental Grain have formed...

Gas station owners have begun to weigh the cost of installing fast charging stations—typically costing at least $100,000—for electric vehicles (EVs) against the risk of sitting pat on a fading technology: the petrol-powered vehicle. The prime market for chargers is the nation’s 121,000 convenience stores that now sell gasoline and diesel, The Wall Street Journal...

State Street, a $12-billion banking and financial services firm with $3.5 trillion under management, is vacating its two offices in midtown Manhattan as it allows employees to work from home much of the time. The change frees about 500 employees from a daily commute, CNN Business reported. The company is adding a shared workspace in...

With ticket sales slipping and cancellations climbing with the surging rate of COVID cases, Southwest Airlines no longer expects to make a profit in this year’s third quarter, despite turning a profit in July, the airline said in a statement. The revised outlook is a dramatic change from earlier this summer, when several airlines reported...

Although the demand for new homes remains strong, many builders are limiting sales to catch up on building the houses they already have promised, The Wall Street Journal reported. Low interest rates, the desire to escape cities during the COVID War, and newfound freedom to work from home has pushed home sales to record rates...

Again, as the COVID War 2.0 began to heat up in May, we had forecast an economic slowdown. Today the U.S. Commerce Department reported that consumer spending in both retail and in restaurants declined in July. While still up and growing, restaurant and bar sales increased at lower rates than they did in June. After...

The median price of U.S. homes held steady at $385,000 from June through July, according to the online Realtor.com.  That figure shows a 10.3-percent increase above July 2020’s median, a slower pace than the 12.7-percent yearly gain posted in June, the realty website noted. In this year’s second quarter, home prices rose at least 10...