Builders broke ground of 1.2 million new housing units in March, compared to 1.56 million in February. That’s a decline of about 22 percent as the U.S. housing industry enters its’ busiest construction season of the year. Construction of new single-family homes dropped 17.5 percent; apartment and condo starts plummeted 32.1 percent from last month,...
Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT
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NEW YORK FED TO CUT BACK ON REPO LOANS?
Fact or fiction? The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which artificially propped up the equity markets by pumping in several trillion dollars beginning last September, announced last week they “soon” will begin to reduce the amount of money it makes available to trading houses with short-term “repo” loans. In either a state of denial...
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RETAILERS ON THE ROPES
In March, U.S. industrial activity slowed by 5.4 percent from February, the biggest month-to-month drop since the end of World War II. Retail sales shrank 8.2 percent from February, the greatest single monthly decline since 1992 when records began to be kept. Spending in restaurants and bars was off by 25 percent, as were vehicle...
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DOLLAR UP AS ECONOMIES GO DOWN
On 15 April, the dollar gained an additional 0.8 percent in value against a collection of 16 other major currencies. The dollar was strong enough to pull investors away from gold, the price of which retreated 1.4 percent on the day. Several factors drove investors to the safety of the dollar: Stimulus money from the...
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PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM PROTECTS FEW
The Federal Reserve’s $349-billion Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, which was designed to lend money to small businesses to fund their payrolls during the economic crisis, saw its funding claimed within minutes of applications becoming available. The Bank of America, which manages a portion of PPP money on behalf of the Federal Reserve, received over...
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U.S. MARKETS
The Dow shed 592 points yesterday, in the wake of a historic crash in short-term oil prices, with benchmark West Texas intermediate crude closing at negative $37.63 on Monday… the first time oil futures had not only reached, but sunk, below zero. The market selloff continued today with indexes across Asia, Europe and the U.S.,...
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MARKETS AROUND THE WORLD
EUROPE Germany Begins to Gradually Reopen Economy Germany will begin restarting its economy this week, with Volkswagen returning some factories to production before the end of this month. Select kinds of small stores that had been deemed “non-essential” can open now. Schools will reopen 4 May for older students. Younger students will return in stages....
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WESTERN CAR MAKERS OUT $100 BILLION BUT FIND HOPE IN CHINA
Vehicle makers in Europe and the U.S. will lose $100 billion in revenues if their factories remain shut through the end of this month, according to the AutoAnalysis research firm. Europe will lose 2.6 million units sold, worth €66 billion; the U.S. will miss 2 million, valued at $52 billion. For each week beyond April...
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PANDEMIC THREATENS POVERTY FOR MILLIONS MORE
The coronavirus pandemic is likely to drop 420 to 580 million more people, or 8 percent of the world’s population, into poverty if the global plague leads to a 20-percent decline in world economic activity, according to a United Nations study. If the economic damage is greater or protracted, as many as half the world’s...
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IMF, WORLD BANK BESIEGED BY AID REQUESTS
About half of the world’s countries – 90 nations – have asked the World Bank and International Monetary Fund for help in the wake of the global economic shutdown, and 60 already have applied for pieces of the $1.2 billion the agencies have together set aside for such requests. The IMF’s board of directors, made...