U.S. consumer spending weakened by 0.4 percent in November, the first decline since April, as household incomes shrank 1.1 percent and new weekly claims for unemployment benefits remained near or above 800,000. Spending on goods dropped 1 percent, spending on services 0.2 percent. Big-ticket items fared worst. Auto sales were off 3.6 percent, and major...
Tag: jan 5 2021
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HOTEL INDUSTRY WILL NOT RECOVER UNTIL 2023
Again, despite the travel and tourism industry stocks rising on stimulus/vaccine news, the rebound will be long and slow. In November, revenue per available room – a key measure of the hotel industry’s financial well-being – was half of what it was a year earlier, according to S&P Global Ratings. In 2021, the number will...
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STIMULUS BILL STIMULATES STOCKS
The $900-billion economic aid bill President Trump signed helped push stock markets to record highs as 2020 came to an end. Travel stocks perked up, trading at what some investors saw as bargain prices ahead of a summer economic recovery they believe will restart pleasure travel. In the new stimulus round, U.S. airlines will share...
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DOLLAR’S WEAKNESS 2021
After standing strong as a haven of value amid the unfolding economic crisis last spring, the U.S. dollar has lost about 12 percent of its value against a benchmark collection of other currencies. A key reason: U.S. interest rates were around 2 percent before the current economic crisis, placing them comfortably above those of most...
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COVID CLAMPDOWNS MOTIVATE ONTRENDPRENEURS®
With people being suddenly put out of work and a new COVID World being created, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and the U.S. all have seen a jump in new business formations during 2020. The U.S. registered 82 percent more new businesses in 2020’s second quarter than a year earlier. OnTrendpreneurs® looking for new revenue streams...
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ETHIOPIAN WAR RAGES ON
We have been reporting on the escalating war in Ethiopia since it broke out in early November when it’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, launched an attack against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) after the region held its own election in September without Ahmed’s approval. Last week, the...
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ERDOGAN POWER GRAB OR LOSING POWER?
Human rights groups bristled at a newly passed law in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, that grants new government control over non-government organizations (NGOs), which critics say threaten any dissent in the country aimed at President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party. Tarik Beyham, Director of Amnesty International in Turkey, told the Financial...
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MEXICO: CANNABIS LEGAL
Mexico is one step closer to legalizing marijuana, which would make the country the world’s largest legal cannabis market, ostensibly put new pressure on drug cartels, and possibly influence larger economies like the U.S. to legalize the drug under federal law. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador vowed in 2018 when he was elected president,...
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HONG KONG PROTESTORS JAILED IN MAINLAND CHINA
Ten protesters from Hong Kong, whom Chinese officials say were captured attempting to flee the city, were sentenced to up to three years in a mainland China prison, according to a report last week in the Financial Times. The ten were attempting to escape prosecution over their alleged involvement in last year’s anti-government protests. The judgment...
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E.U. TO CHINA: LET’S MAKE A DEAL… WITHOUT U.S.
As China’s power and influence over the world’s economy continue to grow, European leaders are willing to open markets with Beijing while claiming to maintain some degrees of caution and suspicion, as reported in last week’s Wall Street Journal. The report pointed to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in October showing global distrust of...