Washington Post (February 14)
Continuing a trend from 2025, “nearly all of the jobs added to the U.S. economy in recent months have come from one industry: health care.” Since the pandemic, the health care sector has benefitted from changing demographics and “buoyed an otherwise slow labor market.” Over one in six “Americans is now 65 or older, an age group that spends an outsize amount on medical care” and estimates suggest that the number of Americans over 80 will double by 2045.
Tags: 2025, 65%, 80, Demographics, Double, Economy, Health care, Jobs, Labor market, Medical care, Pandemic, Trend, U.S.
Barron’s (February 11)
“The U.S. Treasury market has been awfully steady lately. It’s a blessing for the economy and stocks. The 10-year Treasury note —a key debt issued by the U.S. government—has traded in a 0.39 percentage point range over the past six months, its narrowest since October 2018, according to Dow Jones Market data team.”
Tags: 0.39, 2018, Blessing, Debt, Economy, Government, Market, Narrowest, Range, Steady, Stocks, Treasury, U.S.
Reuters (February 9)
“Sanae Takaichi has curb-stomped the competition. Her Liberal Democratic Party took 316 out of 465 seats…delivering the arch-conservative prime minister her country’s first post-war single-party supermajority.” While “investors may hope the ruling party’s historic comeback relieves pressure to cooperate with a fiscally profligate opposition,” that is unlikely. Her desire to revive “the heavily indebted $4 trillion economy” and return to fiscal stimulus will prove costly. Her “desire for a regular army makes expensive militarisation look more certain.” All of these “stated ambitions” augur “more turmoil for markets.”
Tags: Army, Conservative, Curb-stomped, Economy, Expensive, Fiscal stimulus, Hope, Indebted, Investors, Japan, LDP, Militarisation, Prime minister, Supermajority, Takaichi, Turmoil
New York Times (February 5)
“Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada announced on Thursday a sweeping plan to offer billions of dollars in incentives and tax breaks for auto industry investment designed to help turn Canada into a global leader in electric vehicles.” Through the new policies, the Prime Minister intends “to transform Canada’s economy and make it less reliant on a single trade partner after President Trump’s economic assaults and threats on Canada’s sovereignty have frayed relations between the two nations.”
Tags: Auto industry, Canada, Carney, Economy, EVs, Global leader, Incentives, Investment, Prime minister, Reliant, Tax breaks, Threats, Trade partner, Trump, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (January 29)
A “deflation doom loop” is “trapping China’s economy.” Despite the nation’s “extraordinary leaps in cutting-edge technology, from artificial intelligence to robotics,” China’s “relentless pursuit of growth through manufacturing has also created a lopsided economy, with much of it stuck in a deflationary spiral. China’s GDP deflator, a broad price gauge, has been negative since 2023, a sign of inadequate demand at home.”
Tags: 2023, AI, China, Deflationary spiral, Doom loop, Economy, GDP deflator, Growth, Lopsided, Manufacturing, Negative, Robotics, Technology
MSN (January 23)
“UPS reported sharply lower earnings in the third quarter and said it expects lower revenue and thinner profit margins ahead.” The global shipper cited “a slowing global economy…for its gloomy forecast,” and its concern over “global macroeconomic uncertainty” has broader implications. “UPS is something of an economic bellwether, as its trucks move an estimated 6% of US gross domestic product and 3% of global GDP, the broadest measure of economic activity.”
Tags: Bellwether, Earnings, Economy, Global macroeconomic uncertainty, Gloomy forecast, Lower, Profit margins, Q3, Revenue, U.S., UPS
CNN (January 15)
“For China, the record $1.2 trillion annual trade surplus its authorities reported Wednesday is resounding proof of the resilience of its economy in the face of US trade friction.” The record surplus “also tells another story: one of the far-reaching potential for China’s massive export engine to reshape the global economy – and help Beijing win more leverage in its rivalry with the United States.”
Tags: $1.2 trillion, China, Economy, Export engine, Friction, Global economy, Leverage, Potential, Proof, Record, Resilience, Trade surplus, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (January 14)
“Trump wants to run the economy hot. There’s a good chance he’ll succeed,” but most presidents and Congresses avoid “juicing the economy” for good reason. The short-term results might be appealing, but “the long-term consequences” are real. “Ever-rising debt leaves future generations poorer and risks a debt crisis. Loosening credit and dialing back regulations, when valuations are already stretched, could end in market bust.”
Tags: Congresses, Consequences, Credit, Debt, Debt crisis, Economy, Future generations, Juicing, Presidents, Regulations, Risks, Trump, Valuations
MarketWatch (December 22)
“The kitchen sink was thrown at the economy in 2025 — punishing tariffs, higher inflation, rising unemployment — but the U.S. might still be growing at an above-average speed in a sign of surprising pluck.” Can the momentum continue? AI may deliver continuing investment and efficiency gains. In addition, 2026 “should also benefit from lower interest rates, relaxed tariffs, fewer taxes and regulations, and more government spending in a midterm-election year.”
Tags: 2025, 2026, AI, Economy, Efficiency gains, Inflation, Interest rates, Investment, Momentum, Regulations, Tariffs, Taxes, U.S., Unemployment
Bloomberg (December 12)
“AI is powering Trump’s economy, but American voters are getting worried.” The Wall Street consensus is “that AI has driven most of the gains on the S&P 500 this year” so that may make AI look like a hero. Among voters, however, there are “signs of an AI backlash, one that could amplify concerns about the cost of living and the job-market outlook in Trump’s economy.” Data center projects are increasingly being “blocked or delayed by local opposition” and roughly $98 billion in investment was “stymied in the second quarter, more than the total for all previous quarters since 2023.”
Tags: AI, Backlash, Blocked, Consensus, Cost of living, Data centers, Delayed, Economy, Gains, Investment, Job market, Opposition, Outlook, S&P 500, Trump, Voters, Wall Street, Worried
