Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT

Among the 15,000 members of the Association for Corporate Growth who tried to borrow money through the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Main Street Lending Program, 81 percent were unable to, association officials told a Congressional hearing last week. Under the program, which began this month, the Fed will buy 95 percent of a bank’s loan to...

From the beginning of the global economic shutdown until April, the U.S. Federal Reserve had loaned almost $500 billion to the central banks of other nations. The Fed’s goal was to prevent panic sales of dollar-denominated assets by countries desperate to raise cash to treat virus victims and prop up their economies. Fire sales would...

The streets are empty. From Manhattan to Malibu, it’s Ghost Town U.S.A. No neon lights are shining bright on Broadway. Theme parks and movie theaters are closed across the country. No foreign tourists. Restaurants and retail shops barely doing business. Hotels going bust. It comes as no surprise and was long forecasted: “When people lose...

OIL MAJORS’ PROFITS HIT A DRY HOLE. Major oil companies lost more than $15 billion in this year’s second quarter, tanking their stock prices. ExxonMobil, the world’s biggest oil company, posted a second consecutive negative quarter for the first time, reporting a $1.1-billion loss, compared to $3.1 billion in profit a year earlier. Chevron lost...

Economies of the 19 countries that share the euro currency collectively lost 12.1 percent in this year’s second quarter compared to the first, the worst quarterly performance since records began being kept in 1995. Annualized, the loss amounts to 40.3 percent, significantly worse than the U.S.’s 32.9-percent annualized contraction. The second quarter held the bulk...

Google, whose ad revenues had risen in every quarter of the company’s 22-year history, reported an 8-percent drop in ad sales during the second quarter, compared to a year previous. Revenue was down about $2.6 billion for the period as major advertisers, including travel companies and consumer products makers, cut ad spending to conserve cash...

Gucci, the Italian fashion house, saw revenue fall 34 percent to €3.1 billion in the first half of the year. The company’s operating profit was down 51 percent to €929 million. Gucci has been restructuring its operation to rely less on third-party production contractors and instead has been buying up suppliers and opening its own...

During this year’s second quarter, the U.S. economy contracted at a projected annual rate not seen even during the Great Depression. The record 9.5-percent drop in productivity equates to annual plunge of 32.9 percent. The cumulative loss during the first six months of this year is 14.75 percent, roughly the rate of economic slump seen...

Since American politicians began locking down the nation in March, only 37 percent of hotels have brought back half or more of the full-time workers laid off earlier this year according to the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA). The survey also found that: 87 percent of U.S. hotels laid off workers due to the...

U.S. construction spending in June totaled $1.36 trillion, down 0.7 percent from May and the lowest monthly amount this year, according to the Associated General Contractors of America (AGCA). June marked the fourth consecutive month of reduced spending. Construction spending peaked at a record $1.44 trillion in February, but since then has skidded 6 percent,...