Tag: may 10 2022

The U.S. trade gap grew to $109.8 billion in March, a 22.8-percent jump from February, as Americans grabbed more cars, clothing, and computers and industry bought more supplies, the U.S. commerce department reported. Before the COVID virus arrived, the monthly deficit typically ranged between $40 billion and $50 billion, The Wall Street Journal noted. Imports...

The value of U.S. corporate junk bonds, those trading for 70 cents on the dollar or less, has almost doubled this year, reaching $27 billion at the end of April, compared to $14 billion at the end of last year. Another closely-watched signal of trouble is if yields on a company’s bonds rise 10 points...

The U.S. Federal Reserve’s attempts to quell inflation will not be adequate to spare the economy from a recession, Randal Quarles, the Fed’s former vice chair for supervision, said. “Given the intensity of inflation, the degree to which unemployment has been driven down—to bring that back into an equilibrium, it’s unlikely the Fed is going...

ExxonMobil and Chevron Corp. together will plow $50.3 billion into stock buybacks and shareholder dividends this year, compared to $37.5 in capital expenditures, including oil and gas drilling, Bloomberg reported. The gap between the two figures is the greatest since 2008, when the Great Recession struck, Bloomberg noted. Exxon tripled its budget for buying back...

During the week ending 5 May, U.S. mortgage interest rates for a 30-year, fixed-rate loan averaged 5.27 percent, moving up from 5.10 percent the week before, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). The rate was the highest since 2009. A year ago, rates averaged 2.97 percent and rose to 3.22 percent...

The number of open jobs in the U.S. averaged 11.5 million in March, up slightly from 11.3 million in February, the U.S. labor department reported, and exceeded the record of 11.4 million set last December. In March, there were two open jobs for every unemployed person in the country, according to department figures. Jobs in...

U.S. wages rose 5.5 percent in April, year over year, while inflation sped at an annual rate of 8.5 percent during the 12 months ending 31 March, the U.S. labor department reported. In contrast, wages grew by an average of 3.4 percent in the six months preceding the COVID onset in February 2020. Rising wages...