Wall Street Journal (April 7)
“With inflation high and the job market tight… policy makers are inclined to reduce the Fed’s $9 trillion balance sheet at a much more rapid pace than they did during the quantitative-tightening round that began in October 2017, when inflation was much cooler and the unemployment rate was higher.” The resulting “quantitative-tightening tantrum could go on a lot longer than the taper tantrum did.”
Tags: 2017, Balance sheet, Fed, Inflation, Job market, Policy makers, Quantitative tightening, Tight, Unemployment
San Jose Mercury News (October 4)
“Throughout the Bay Area, companies both large and small are struggling to refill their ranks after last year’s business shutdowns drove laid-off workers to seek pandemic unemployment assistance to find new jobs in other industries. But as bigger companies offer increasingly generous rewards, smaller companies with leaner budgets are struggling to compete in a worker-driven market.”
Tags: Bay Area, Bigger, Budgets, Companies, Generous, Laid-off, Pandemic, Refill, Rewards, Shutdowns, Smaller, Struggling, Unemployment, Workers
Wall Street Journal (October 14)
“The two economies will be factors driving the choices voters make in November. The reality for Mr. Trump: Many achievements of his first economy have been wiped out by the second.” The post-Covid economy was “historically bad. It sent unemployment to depths unseen in post-Depression records before reversing itself quickly but only partially, leaving the U.S. with an outlook that’s especially hard to forecast.”
Tags: Achievements, Choices, Depression, Economy, Historically bad, November, Post-Covid, Trump, U.S., Unemployment, Voters, Wiped out
Business Insider (October 5)
“Pope Francis echoed Warren Buffett in blaming unfettered capitalism for rising inequality in a letter to the Catholic Church’s bishops titled Fratelli Tutti over the weekend.” The Pontiff “pointed to the pandemic’s fallout, including massive unemployment spikes around the world, as evidence that ‘not everything can be resolved by market freedom.’”
Tags: Buffett, Capitalism, Catholic, Fallout, Francis, Fratelli Tutti, Inequality, Market freedom, Pandemic, Pope, Unemployment, Unfettered
The Guardian (September 4)
“Donald Trump is the most repellent individual ever to have sought, let alone won, the presidency of the United States. The latest proof comes in a quadruple-sourced account of Trump describing US troops who died for their country as ‘losers’ and ‘suckers.’” But it’s not just what he says. The nation’s economy now “lies in tatters, racked by mass unemployment. And yet, despite that record of lethal failure, this inadequate, malignant man still has the support of 42% of the American people.”
Tags: Economy, Inadequate, Lethal failure, Losers, Malignant, Presidency, Repellent, Suckers, Support, Tatters, Troops, Trump, U.S., Unemployment, Won
Reuters (May 14)
Banks mainly seem to be provisioning for consumer debt, but “bad-debt risks could easily spread beyond consumer finance. Commercial real estate could face a brutal reckoning if white-collar workers in major cities decide not to return to the office when lockdowns lift.” When stimulus measures wind down, it will leave “over-indebted small and medium-sized enterprises vulnerable. Mass unemployment would lead to increased mortgage defaults.”
Tags: Bad debt, Banks, Commercial real estate, Consumer finance, Lockdowns, Mortgage, Office, Over-indebted, Provisioning, Risks, SMEs, Stimulus, Unemployment, Vulnerable, White collar, Workers
Financial Times (May 9)
“The grim picture of the US labour market in the midst of a lockdown that has choked economic activity will increase concerns that any rebound from the sudden deep recession could take longer than was expected just a few weeks ago.” With unemployment at 14.7%, “its highest level since the second world war,” any chances of a V-shaped recovery now look remote.
Tags: Economic activity, Grim, Lockdown, Rebound, Recession, Recovery, Remote, U.S., Unemployment, V-shaped
USA Today (October 4)
“The unemployment rate fell from 3.7% to 3.5%, the lowest since December 1969…. Average wages, however, fell. Wall Street cheered the mixed report, which … kept in play a possible Fed rate cut this month, which would be the third since July.”
Tags: Fed, Mixed, Rate, Rate cut, Unemployment, Wages, Wall Street
Market Watch (August 24)
“U.S. China tensions over trade policy have reached a boiling point, the only question remaining is whether business executives — and the stock market — can stand the heat…. The further upping of trade barriers, along with Trump’s forceful response, threatens to further erode already sagging business confidence and trigger more weakness in U.S. business investment, which could eventually lead to rising unemployment.”
Tags: Barriers, China, Confidence, Investment, Stock market, Tensions, Trade, Trump, U.S., Unemployment, Weakness
Boston Globe (January 10)
“Many investors had expected department stores to enjoy robust sales over the holidays in light of a U.S. economy buoyed by low unemployment, higher wages, strong consumer confidence and cheap gas.” Lackluster results from Macy’s and Kohl’s sent “retail stocks into a tailspin… calling into question whether such mall-based chains can compete in a changing landscape where shoppers are shifting more of their spending online.”
Tags: Consumer confidence, Holiday sales, Investors, Kohl’s, Lackluster, Macy’s, Malls, Online, Retail stocks, Shoppers, Tailspin, U.S., Unemployment, Wages
