After touching a record low in April, the University of Michigan’s monthly survey of consumer sentiment fell even lower in the May preliminary poll, sinking to a reading of 48.2.
Tag: U.S. Economy
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MARKET OVERVIEW
On 1 May, the NASDAQ and Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed at record highs yet again on strong earnings, gains in tech, and lower oil prices.
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CATERPILLAR RAISES 2026 OUTLOOK, SHARE PRICE SETS RECORD
The boom in building AI data centers has spurred demand for Caterpillar’s earth-moving equipment, engines, and generators, boosting revenue in its construction equipment business by 38 percent in the most recent quarter and in its power-and-energy division by 22 percent, the company reported.
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U.S. FARMERS SCRAMBLE TO ADAPT TO FERTILIZER’S SOARING COST
This year, U.S. farmers are growing more soybeans and less corn.
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AMERICANS SHIFT SPENDING FROM GOODS TO EXPERIENCES
As prices for everything from shoes to electronics keep rising, more Americans are buying grocery staples in bulk and foregoing new clothes, shifting spending to experiences “because we’ll always remember them,” one woman told The Wall Street Journal.
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TRUMP PLEDGED TO LOWER PRICES, HIS POLICIES HAVE RAISED THEM
Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025 largely because voters believed his promises that he would somehow lower the cost of living “quickly from Day One.”
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RAMPANT AI SPENDING SETS ANOTHER RECORD
For this year’s first quarter, cloud service providers Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta collectively reported a record $130.65 billion in capital expenditures, mostly on AI infrastructure, according to their financial disclosures.
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DIVIDED FED COMMITTEE HOLDS INTEREST RATES FIRM
Last week, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee voted for a third consecutive time to hold the bank’s key interest rates at 3.75 percent for loans and 3.50 percent on deposits.
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U.S. WEALTH INEQUALITY IS WORSENING, STUDY FINDS
In 2025, pay for corporate CEOs grew 20 times faster than wages for workers, according to a report published last week by Oxfam and the International Trade Union Confederation.
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U.S. INFLATION REACHED 3.3 PERCENT IN MARCH WHILE GROWTH SLOWED
In March, U.S. inflation jumped 0.5 percent from February to an annual rate of 3.3 percent, the U.S. commerce department reported. Core inflation – which filters out the costs of energy and food – rose to an annual rate of 2.6 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.