When Donald Trump won the race to the White House back in November, there were high expectations that the equity markets would spike, the value of the dollar would rise and it would be high times for the Merger and Acquisition Gang.
Tag: U.S. economy
MORTGAGE RATES CLIMB BACK UP OVER 7 PERCENT, CHILLING HOME SALES
On 11 April, the national average interest rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rose .13 of a percentage point to reach 7.1 percent, its loftiest since mid-February, according to Mortgage News Daily (MND).
RECORD NUMBER OF CREDIT CARD HOLDERS MAKING ONLY MINIMUM PAYMENTS
In the final quarter of last year, 11.2 percent of credit card holders were making only minimum payments on their accounts, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
CONSUMER CONFIDENCE PLUNGES DEEPER
Consumers’ confidence in the U.S. economy sank deeper into darkness as Donald Trump’s tariff war escalated in the first week of this month, according to the University of Michigan’s initial April survey of consumer sentiment.
SLAVELANDIA: FOUR IN FIVE AMERICANS ARE FINANCIALLY STRESSED
Seventy-three percent of Americans responding to a CNBC survey report being “financially stressed.”
U.S. INFLATION EASED FURTHER IN MARCH
Headline inflation ticked down 0.1 of a percentage point to 2.4 percent in March after settling at 2.5 percent the month before, the first time since May 2020 that the rate has declined two months in a row, the U.S. Labor Department reported.
ECONOMIC UPDATE—MARKET OVERVIEW
Go to the $6 weekend print edition of The Wall Street Journal... couldn’t find an article that gold prices spiked to new highs and closed at $3,225 per ounce. As we go to press, gold is up some $22 per ounce and spot gold is selling $3,231 per ounce.
SPOTLIGHT: BIGS GETTING BIGGER
Dealmakers are not waiting for Donald Trump’s policies of tax cuts and relaxed regulation to come into effect.
WALL STREET BARONS LOSE HOPES FOR TRUMP’S PROMISED “GOLDEN AGE”
Private equity firms are deferring, if not giving up, the new golden age of major dealmaking and swelling profits they expected when Donald Trump campaigned on promises of lower taxes and a softer regulatory touch.
SERVICE SECTOR ACTIVITY IN MARCH SLOWEST IN NINE MONTHS
In March, business activity in the U.S. services sector was its slowest since June 2024, according to the Institute for Supply Management’s Purchasing Managers Index.