JUNE 29, 2020 – UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS FALL FOR NOW People receiving unemployment benefits fell below 20 million for the first time in two months. Weekly numbers have remained high as new jobless claims totaled 1.48 million last week, exceeding expectations for 1.35 million claims.  Numbers are not expected to drop significantly in the near term, as coronavirus cases continue to …

JUNE 22, 2020 – RETAIL SALES SOAR BY 17.7 PERCENT IN MAY AS consumers returned to newly reopened stores in May, the shopping began.  Retail sales were up 17.7 percent in May, far outpacing the last record of 6.7 percent set in October 2001, a month after 9/11.  Economists were expecting to see an 8 percent increase.  If cars and …

JUNE 15, 2020 – FED WILL KEEP RATES AT ZERO FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE The Federal Reserve met last week.  No surprise to anyone, they announced that rates will remain at zero until the economy recovers from the coronavirus.  The FOMC wants to provide support for the economy as long as possible, which is predicted to be at least two …

JUNE 8, 2020 – JOBS NUMBERS RISE TO THE SURPRISE OF ECONOMISTS The May payrolls were released Friday, showing an increase of 2.5 million jobs and a drop in the unemployment rate to 13.3 percent from close to 15 percent in April.  Economists were expected a further shedding of 8.3 million jobs and a corresponding rise in the unemployment rate …

JUNE 1, 2020 – CONSUMER SPENDING SHARPLY DOWN; NEW UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS EASE US consumer spending fell by a record 13.6 percent in April.  This is the steepest decline since 1959.  Economists believe this is likely to be the bottom, but also means the economy is in for a slow recovery.  Even though some businesses have been reopening during the month …

MAY 26, 2020 – FED CHAIR CALLS FOR MORE GOVERNMENT HELP Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated last week that additional spending by Washington could be needed to prevent long term damage from high unemployment and surges of bankruptcies. He said, “The scope and speed of this downturn are without modern precedent and are significantly worse than any recession since WWII.” …

MAY 18, 2020 – RECORD DROP IN RETAIL SALES FOR APRIL 68 percent of the country’s economy is reliant on personal consumption expenditures. The April data came in last week, reporting drop of 16.4 percent in consumer spending. March was down 8.3 percent, and the aggregate Q1 results showed a fall of 7.6 percent.  To put the numbers into perspective, …

MAY 11, 2020 – UNEMPLOYMENT REACHES RECORD LEVELS 20.5 million people joined the ranks of the jobless in April, raising the unemployment rate to 14.7 percent, a post-World War II level.   The “real” unemployment rate, which included workers not looking for jobs and the underemployed rose to 22.8 percent. As bad as the numbers are, economists were expecting a greater …

MAY 4, 2020 – FED DIGGING IN FOR A LONG ROAD TO RECOVERY The Fed announced plans to back private debt markets last week, which caused the stock market to rally.  But the Fed realizes a lot more is needed to fight the aftereffects of the virus as the US economy starts to reopen.  Fed Chair Jerome Powell delivered a …

APRIL 27, 2020 – SOME STATES START TO REOPEN As nearly one in six workers are out of a job in the United States, some states are starting to slowly reopen for business. At last count, 26 million people are out of work with levels of unemployment not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Georgia, Oklahoma, Florida and …