Inflation is strong. Consumer spending is strong. Disposable income growth isn’t keeping pace. And personal saving as a percentage of disposable income is declining. To that end, data released by the Commerce Department Friday (Oct. 27) shows that inflation is still with us, where the...
Strong consumer spending this summer helped drive economic growth in the U.S. Figures released Thursday (Oct. 26) by the U.S. Commerce Department showed gross domestic product (GDP) increasing at a seasonally- and inflation-adjusted 4.9% yearly rate in the third quarter, the fastest pace in two years. Real GDP rose...
American businesses are less sure about future sales than they were before the pandemic. That’s according to the latest edition of the Survey of Business Uncertainty, released Wednesday (Oct. 25) by the Atlanta Federal Reserve, Stanford University and the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. According to the survey,...
Central banks worldwide are seeking lessons from the cost-of-living crisis, as they convene for their penultimate meetings of the year. The focus of their discussions revolves around three key debates: the flexibility of central banks in reaching their inflation targets, the effectiveness of asset purchases...
The latest qualitative readings on the U.S. economy show that economic activity, at best, seems stagnant. At worst, there are some signs that consumer spending, which keeps the economic engine running, may be losing some of its most vaunted momentum. The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book,...
For many Americans, having fun has apparently become a source of financial stress. As The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Tuesday (Oct. 17), ticket prices for concerts, sporting events and theme park admissions have all jumped this year, leading to a scenario in which a growing number...
Prices for apparel and household items saw notable declines in September, even as the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.4%. This increase followed a 0.6% rise in August and contributed to a 3.7% increase in the all items index that has...
President Joe Biden will reportedly meet with a half dozen business leaders from various industries on Thursday (Oct. 12) to hear their perspectives on the economy and the labor market. Among the those participating in the meeting at the White House is Target CEO Brian Cornell, whose company has been...
The latest inflation readings are in. While the usual parlor game gets underway of dissecting if the data is better or worse than expectations, and what the Federal Reserve will do, the inescapable reality is that there’s no relief in sight for paycheck-to-paycheck individuals and...
