Macy’s, the 551-store chain that skirted bankruptcy in June by lining up $4.5 billion in new financing, will fire 25 percent of its corporate-level workforce, or about 3,900 people. The cuts will save the company an estimated $365 million this year and about $630 million annually in the future. The retailer will invest about $180...
Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT
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DIFFERENT DICTATORS, DIFFERENT RULES
States’ differing shutdown rules are creating adjoining but sharply skewed economies. The inequality is embodied in the Quad Cities metro area embracing Davenport, IA, on one side of the Mississippi River and Moline, IL, on the other. Illinois’s suite of mandates requires businesses to provide face masks and personal protective equipment for employees, non-essential retailers...
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REOPENINGS SLOW, CLOSINGS FAST
Most businesses closed by government mandate remained so by mid-June, according to Yelp, the online review site. About 140,000 businesses listed on Yelp that were closed on 1 March still are, the company said, compared to 175,000 that were shut on 1 April. According to Yelp, some 41 percent of businesses still closed have reported...
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SHUTDOWNS RETURN AS CASES RISE
Amid a surge in COVID cases, Texas has imposed new distance requirements in restaurants, and Texas and Florida have re-closed bars. Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Nevada, New Mexico, and North Carolina are among states that have gone back into partial lockdowns and added new rules and regulations. Employees of the Disney Co. are...
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TRAVEL TOURISM DIVE
For Americans who wish to travel, Europe is officially off limits. As of tomorrow, due to COVID Hysteria, Americans are not allowed to enter European Union nations. On the leisure and hospitality home front, ordinarily a big business in the summer, a survey commissioned by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and conducted by...
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GOLD GLOWS AS FORECAST
Today, gold closed at $1,781 an ounce. As per our months’ long forecast, should gold continue to trade in this range for several more days, we forecast it will move above $2,000 per ounce… and silver will follow. What we have been long forecasting has finally hit the mainstream mindset as evidenced by the Bank...
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THE ECONOMY IS DEAD
The nation’s economy is Dead. The politicians’ COVID War killed it. Go back to the beginning of the lockdowns. Listen to what Wall Street said: “It will be a V-shaped recovery.” Remember what Main Street was saying back then? “It will come back.” No, it won’t, and no, it isn’t. From fine dining to Disney...
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MORE ON THE ECONOMIC FRONT LINES
BORROWERS QUEUE FOR AID FROM U.K. AND EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANKS. Borrowers have claimed about €1.3 trillion, or $1.5 trillion, of the European Central Bank’s pool of loans available for economic recovery, a record amount. At the same time, the Bank of England has added another £100 billion to its budget for buying government bonds, raising...
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JAPAN
JAPAN GRAPPLES WITH DEFLATION. Japan, which in the 1990s became the first modern economy to struggle with deflation, is facing falling prices again. In May, consumer prices fell at their fastest pace in more than four years and the rate of inflation struck a 14-month low. On 16 June, the Bank of Japan said that...
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CHINA
HONG KONG BANKRUPTCIES WORST SINCE 2003 SARS EPIDEMIC. From February through April, personal bankruptcies in Hong Kong rose 12.5 percent compared to the same period in 2019, with analysts saying the number will continue to climb. Personal bankruptcies in the city shot up from just six in April to 2,079 the following month, while business...