Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT

In addition to retail chains Gap and PetSmart, now the National Basketball League is being sued by its landlord for unpaid rent. A company named 535-545 Fee LLC is suing NBA Media Ventures for not paying its $625,000 monthly rent in April and May, when the basketball league’s retail outlet on New York City’s Fifth...

At least 722 U.S. companies declared bankruptcy in May, a 48-percent increase from a year earlier. Federal aid, including the Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Paycheck Protection Programs, have helped some companies endure a little longer but do not offer a lasting rescue. “As this relief runs its course, mounting financial challenges may result in...

The U.S. path to economic recovery is “extraordinarily uncertain,” the U.S. Federal Reserve told Congress in its semiannual report released on 15 June. “Some small businesses and highly leveraged firms might have to shut down permanently or declare bankruptcy, which could have longer-lasting repercussions on productive capacity,” the report said. “In addition, there is uncertainty...

U.S. Federal Reserve officials predicted that unemployment will hover around 9 or 10 percent during the last three months of the year. The forecast came after the central bank’s policy meeting last week, at which the bank’s governors left key interest rates unchanged. “We are strongly committed to using our tools to do whatever we...

While the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve pump trillions into corporate welfare programs and stock markets, U.S. Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia (who’s papa Anthony was Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Judge) wants to end the $600-a-week federal “COVID” unemployment benefit enacted by Congress that helps keep households solvent as millions of workers lost...

Carson Group, the $12-billion investment management firm that once touted itself as the new “Amazon of financial services,” secured a forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan from the U.S. government. So did the $6.3-billion Cornerstone Advisors Asset Management and Creative Financial Designs, which handles $1.4 billion in assets. Dozens of investment management companies rolling in...

The U.S. Federal Reserve’s Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility (SMCCF) is one of the central bank’s 11 programs to help revive the U.S. economy. But, despite Fed chair Jerome Powell’s reassurances that the programs are intended to rescue small businesses, the SMCCF is one of the ten initiatives that bails out Wall Street, not Main...

Extending its efforts to artificially inflate the American economic recovery, yesterday, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced it will buy individual corporate bonds on the secondary market. The Fed added this operation to its Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility, which is empowered to buy up to $750 billion in bonds. The program will buy bonds with...

U.S. equity markets continue to rise. The Dow rose 477 points on Friday, and after plunging over 700 yesterday, rebounded to close up 157 points. Today, the Dow closed up 526 points. As we noted last week, The Dow’s six-day winning streak, which brought the S&P 500 back above where it began the year, and...

Shutdown’s Effects Will Weigh on Economies for Years, says World Bank. Economies of the world’s developing nations will not recover from the devastation wrought by the global shutdown for at least five years, according to a new World Bank study. With the shutdown leading to recessions in these countries, GDP in five years could be...