US TREASURY TO LIFT AUCTION SIZES TO MEET MASSIVE BORROWING NEED
By Kevin Kastner WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The U.S. Treasury plans to raise the sizes of all its nominal securities auctions to meet the pressing fiscal need of the COVID-19 crisis, their quarterly refunding statement released on Wednesday showed. On Monday, Treasury had announced that it expected to borrow $3 trillion in the current quarter, much […]
CHICAGO FED’S EVANS: ‘REASONABLE’ TO EXPECT RECOVERY BY 2H 2020, BUT LOOKING ‘QUARTER BY QUARTER’
By Suzanne Cosgrove CHICAGO (MaceNews) – After a sharp contraction in the first half, it is “reasonable” to expect the US economy to pick up in the second half of 2020, Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans said Tuesday. In a media conference call, Evans cautioned that he would have to evaluate economic conditions […]
WHITE HOUSE WATCH COMMENTARY: ‘PLENTY OF PROTEIN IN THE (HOBBLED) FOOD CHAIN’
By Denny Gulino WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – Kroger, with 2,700 stores, says some of them will have purchase limits on ground beef and pork, just as many other grocery chains have been imposing for weeks. It’s the end of the week and maybe you’ve run out of things to worry about. We can help. There is […]
DATA FLASH: US APRIL MANUFACTURING ISM CONTRACTS SHARPLY
–Regional Data, Markit Survey Also Soft as Full COVID Impact Hit–March Construction Spending Up on Home Remodeling By Kevin Kastner WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The April ISM index Friday showed U.S. manufacturing sector activity contracted sharply, confirming the disappointing regional and Markit data that preceded it. Conditions are unlikely to improve until businesses are given the […]
ECB SEES POSSIBLE 15% SLUMP IN Q2; LEAVES RATES ON HOLD
By Laurie Laird LONDON (MaceNews) – The European Central Bank expanded its emergency liquidity program following Thursday’s governing council meeting, but declined to reduce interest rates, despite the eurozone suffering its biggest-ever downturn in the first quarter. “We are facing an economic contraction of a magnitude and speed … unprecedented in peacetime,” said ECB President […]
DATA FLASH: US INITIAL CLAIMS STILL ELEVATED AS BACKLOGS CONTINUE
–Initial Claims Fall By 603,000 to 3.839 Mln; Continuing Claims Not Peaked–Personal Income Down 2.0%; PCE Plunges 7.5%; Core PCE Prices -0.1%–Employ Costs Accelerated in 1Q; Chicago PMI 35.4 By Kevin Kastner WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – Initial claims fell by 603,000 to 3.839 million in the April 25 week, ahead of the 3.50 million level expected, […]
FOMC, CHAIR POWELL HOLDING ON TIGHT, ALL IN FOR DURATION
–‘Not Going To Run Out of Money’ –Time to Use the ‘Great Fiscal Power’ Of the Country By Denny Gulino WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The Federal Open Market Committee, echoed by Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell, Wednesday signaled only firm determination to fight the damage from the economic shutdown, whatever it takes, reassuring the markets, Wall […]
DATA FLASH: US 1ST QTR GDP CONTRACTS BY 4.8%; PCE PLUNGES ON SOCIAL DISTANCING
–Business Investment Hit by COVID Impact, Residential Investment Soared –Imports -15.3%; Price Index +1.3% By Kevin Kastner WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter, as growth in January and February was more than wiped out by business shutdowns late in March, a trend that will likely carry over into the second […]
DATA FLASH: US APRIL CONFIDENCE FELL FURTHER, BUT EXPECTATIONS IMPROVE
By Kevin Kastner WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The Conference Board’s U.S. consumer confidence index Tuesday fell to a reading of 86.9 in April from a downward revised 118.8 reading in March, as business and employment conditions deteriorated rapidly due to the COVID-19 shutdown. And while the assessment of current conditions posted their largest one-month decline in […]
BUSINESS ECONOMISTS GRAPPLE WITH OUTLOOK, TRY TO CATCH UP WITH DETERIORATION
WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The National Association for Business Economics Monday published its latest survey of business conditions and 107 of its members concluded that the outlook has been clouded so much by the pandemic that there are few definitive conclusions at this early stage. The NABE’s averaged survey results showed a severe economic dislocation yet […]