Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT

MARKETS RALLY AFTER MONDAY PLUNGE TO SET NEW RECORDS After a 725-point plunge on Monday, 19 July, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied through the week to close above 35,000 for the first time. Despite concerns that the Biden Bounce would slow down as the Delta variant fears sped up, other indexes also rose on...

Pepsico slurped up 21 percent more in beverage sales during this year’s second quarter than a year earlier, when the COVID War shut down bars, restaurants, and public gatherings. Consumers used some of those extra drinks to wash down 6 percent more Frito Lay chips and other snacks than in the second quarter of 2020....

In an attempt to capitalize on the worldwide shortage of computer chips, Intel is mulling the purchase of competitor GlobalFoundries, a deal that would rank as Intel’s biggest buy yet and value GlobalFoundries at as much as $30 billion. GlobalFoundries is based in the U.S. but owned by the government of Abu Dhabi. Intel, with...

During 2021’s second quarter, restaurant chains signed 23 new leases in Manhattan, taking 83,333 square feet of space, much of which already included a kitchen area and equipment abandoned when eateries shut during last year’s crisis, the Washington Post reported. In the same period, clothing retailers inked 10 leases covering 49,236 square feet; health care...

The cost of materials a contractor needs to put up a building zoomed 26.3 percent from June 2020 through June 2021, the Associated General Contractors of America (AGCA) reported. Lumber prices have doubled over the period, but eased slightly since. (See “Lumber Prices Add $36,000 to Cost of New Home,” Trends Journal, 4 May 2021). ...

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Denny’s, and Shake Shack are among the restaurants raising menu prices; Domino’s Pizza and Darden Restaurants, which owns nine chains including Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse, have shrunk the size of their discounts.  Burger King will offer consumers 3 percent less in discounts this year, the company has said. Restaurant prices swelled...

Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley reported strong second-quarter results as increased revenue from investment banking fees offset weaker collections from trading. Goldman Sachs’ revenues rose 16 percent in this year’s second quarter to $15.4 billion, compared to a year earlier, the bank reported on 13 July. The bank made 20 percent more...

A survey released on Friday showed that U.S. consumers have new fears about inflation, which could hamper some hopes of a swift recovery, a report said. The Financial Times, citing the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index, reported that some customers are facing “sticker shock” when trying to buy everyday items like chicken and produce....

The U.S. Federal Reserve will not raise interest rates or curtail its $120-billion-a-month bond-buying program any time soon, Fed chair Jerome Powell told Congress on 14 June, despite inflation shooting to 5.4 percent year-on-year last month, its fastest clip in 13 years, as the U.S. labor department reported. High inflation is “transitory,” Powell said again...

Many U.S. retail banks are permanently closing branches and firing staff, betting that online banking that became a habit during the 2020 shutdown will endure, according to the Financial Times. Citigroup, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo collectively have closed more than 250 branches this year, cutting their networks by as much as 5 percent. Wells Fargo,...