The U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest Beige Book, a collection of anecdotes and snapshots of business conditions around the country, shows flat hiring, rising costs, and a contraction in the U.S. economy. “Economic activity has declined slightly since the previous report,” which was released on 23 April, the central bank said in a statement. ......
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.
Donald Trump and Jerome Powell, chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, met for about 30 minutes on 29 May at Trump’s invitation, the White House press office said.
Thanks largely to the years-long tech boom and roaring stock market, the U.S. now has more than a third of the world’s millionaires and billionaires, according to a new report by Henley & Partners and New World Wealth, a South African research firm tracking the world’s financial riches.
An index gauging the number of home-sale contracts signed in April fell 6.3 percent from March, down to a reading of 71.3. The measure was 2.5 percent below that of April 2024, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported.
In his presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised to abolish taxes on Social Security payments.
During the week ending 24 May, 240,000 people filed new claims for unemployment benefits.
The U.S. Federal Reserve’s favorite measure of inflation showed prices rose at a 2.1-percent annual rate in April, next door to the Fed’s long-held 2-percent target rate.
The American economy contracted by 0.2 percent in 2025’s first quarter, compared to 2.4 percent growth in 2024’s final three months. It was the first quarterly contraction since 2022.
Again and again, for all to see, and all to wonder, “Round and round and round it goes, where it stops, nobody knows.” Remember, two of our Top Trends for 2025 were WILD CARDS: THE JOKER’S WILD and THE TRUMP CARD, and both those cards are continually being played. That is a fact of life......