Inflation and interest rate hikes are causing companies in many sectors to lay off employees. To illustrate the employment trends and the socioeconomic implications, each week we will list job losses.
Tag: Economy
FDIC ASSETS SHRINKING AS RISK OF BANK FAILURES REMAINS HIGHER
The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), which guarantees the safety of bank deposits up to $250,000, has seen its reserve shrink from $128 billion on 1 January to $116 billion now, according to the Financial Times.
BANKS MAKING IT HARDER FOR SMALL BUSINESSES TO BORROW
Small businesses, especially startups, are finding it harder to get new loans, while some existing businesses are seeing their credit lines cut, The Wall Street Journal reported.
EMPLOYERS ADDED 339,000 NEW WORKERS IN MAY
The U.S. jobs market refused to slow last month, with employers adding 339,000 non-farm workers across a range of economic sectors, according to the labor department’s initial estimate.
CORPORATIONS FIND IT HARDER TO BORROW
The availability of loans to corporations, and the criteria to qualify for them, are at their most stringent since the depths of the COVID War, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation.
THE DEBT DEAL: MORE SHOW THAN SUBSTANCE
As we had forecast for over a month, Congressional Republicans and President Joe Biden would reach a meaningless debt ceiling deal to avoid a national default. Also as we had forecast, the debt ceiling would be broken through once again with no end in sight... as the cover of this week’s Trends Journal illustrates.
SPOTLIGHT, TOP TREND 2023: OFFICE BUILDING BUST
Silverstein Properties, which developed the new World Trade Center, has made a deal to sell a 20-story office property on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue for $105 million. In 2020, the company had refinanced the building for $171 million.
SPOTLIGHT: CHINA
China dominates lithium refining but has only 8 percent of the world’s raw lithium, less than Argentina, Bolivia, or Chile. Even the U.S. has more lithium ore than the Asian giant.
MEXICO’S CENTRAL BANK PROMISES NO MORE INTEREST RATE INCREASES
Meeting on 25 May, the governing board of Mexico’s central bank voted unanimously to hold its key interest rate at 11.25 percent, halting its fastest and steepest series of rate increases on record.
CORPORATE BUYBACKS: THE SPREE CONTINUES
The spate of corporations buying their own stock that we reported in “Company Stock Buybacks Set Record, Spark Investor Complaints” (23 May 2023) shows no signs of slowing.









