Sales at stores, restaurants, and online retailers rose a modest 0.3 percent in November from October, plunging from October’s 1.8-percent jump. Sales at electronic stores slipped 4.6 percent and were down 1.2 percent at general merchandise stores. Online sales were flat, according to the U.S. labor department. Still, November’s number was 18.2 percent above that...
Tag: dec 21 2021
Post
LABOR MARKET’S STRENGTH PROVES FED POLICY WRONG, WSJ SAYS
As inflation reared early this year, the U.S. Federal Reserve bet that the labor market could run strong without pushing costs and prices higher for a prolonged period—a bet that has proven to be wrong, Wall Street Journal columnist Greg Yp wrote in a 17 December analysis. The Fed continued to insist that inflation would...
Post
LEVERAGED LOANS CRISIS BREWING
Of the 954 leveraged loans sold to investors in 2021 through November, 33 percent of the loans were made to companies whose debts exceeded earnings by at least six times, the Financial Times reported. The loans exceed a 2013 guideline adopted by the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve, and the Federal Deposit...
Post
CORPORATE STOCK BUYBACKS SET RECORD
After shepherding cash through much of the COVID War, corporations bought a record $234.5 billion worth of their own stock in this year’s third quarter, surpassing the previous quarterly high mark of $233 billion notched in 2018’s final three months. The wave of stock buybacks through this year has helped propel the Standard & Poor’s...
Post
EUROPEAN MARKETS: HIGHER RATES IMPACT
On 15 December, the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated it probably will raise interest rates at least three times next year (see related story in this issue). The next day, the Bank of England raised its key interest from 0.1 percent to 0.25 and it was believed that Eurozone stock markets notched new record highs because...
Post
FED INTEREST RATE HIKES = MARKET MELTDOWNS?
At last week’s meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee, a majority of committee members signaled their expectation that the Fed would raise its key interest rates by one-quarter percentage point at least three times in 2022, beginning this spring. All 18 committee members agreed that rates will need to rise next year....
Post
WORKERS’ WANTS AND NEEDS DRIVE LABOR MARKET SHAKEUP
The United States is currently in the midst of a puzzling supply-and-demand situation: while there are near-record numbers of jobs available, most go unfilled because of the dearth of available workers. The latest “American Opportunity Survey,” conducted by McKinsey and Co., published on 13 December and reported on that same day by Al Jazeera, attempts...
Post
CONGRESS AND STAFFERS’ DIRTY DEALING EXPOSED
Congress passed the “Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012,” known as “the STOCK Act,” to combat insider trading and conflicts of interest by lawmakers; among its provisions, the law requires prompt and public disclosure of any stock trade made by officials, their spouses or their dependent children. TRENDPOST: The STOCK Act figured in...
Post
ISRAEL PLAYED ROLE IN SOLEIMANI’S ASSASSINATION
Tamir Hayman, the former head of Israel’s military intelligence, said in an interview published Monday that Tel Aviv played a role in the high-profile assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the top Iranian commander. Soleimani met his fate on 3 January 2020 when reportedly killed in a U.S. airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport. Former President Trump said...
Post
US LOSES WARS, MILITARY AWARDED WITH RECORD BREAKING BILLIONS
The Senate last week easily passed a $768 billion defense bill that its supporters say will continue to give the U.S. an edge over rivals, namely Russia and China. The Trends Journal has reported on the U.S.’s massive investment into its military, with little to show for it. Gerald Celente has pointed out that the American military...