DATA FLASH: US FEBRUARY JOLTS DATA POINT TO SLOWDOWN BEFORE MARCH DROP
-Openings, Hiring Slow Even Before COVID; Layoffs to Surge in March By Kevin Kastner WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly JOLTS report, released Tuesday morning, showed that job openings and hiring conditions slowed in February and layoffs rose, even before the full COVID impact. Job openings fell to 6.882 million in […]
WHITE HOUSE WATCH: MARKETS CONCLUDE – FOR NOW – THE FUTURE IS ASSURED
By Denny Gulino WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The stock markets went up, up and up Monday and President Trump said he had a “warm” conversation with Joe Biden. True or False? Somehow part of the world slipped into a parallel and intensely positive universe Monday, particularly surprising at the beginning of what every expert and the […]
NY FED: US CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS FELL IN MARCH AMID VIRUS
NEW YORK (MaceNews) – US consumer worries about job losses and household finances ratcheted up in March as COVID-19 fears rose, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported. The Fed’s survey of households, conducted March 2-31, shows “a considerable deterioration in households’ expectations regarding their labor market and financial situation across all age, education, […]
BANK OF CANADA: PRE-COVID-19, CANADA CONSUMER SENTIMENT IMPROVED IN Q1
NEW YORK (MaceNews) – Canada’s consumers were feeling better in the first quarter, before the COVID-19 pandemic, and before oil prices plunged, a Bank of Canada quarterly survey found. Consumers’ expectations for one-year-ahead and five-year-ahead inflation increased slightly in the first quarter of 2020, reversing some declines seen in the fourth quarter. The two-year-ahead expectations […]
BANK OF CANADA: MANY BUSINESSES POLLED IN MID-MARCH ALREADY SAW SHARP DECLINES
NEW YORK (MaceNews) – The Bank of Canada’s quarterly survey of executives saw business sentiment had already begun weakening before COVID-19 worries intensified in Canada, especially in energy-producing regions. Some businesses polled again in mid-March reported a sharp decline in business activity, and many others were expecting it. The bank’s spring Business Outlook Survey composite […]
WHITE HOUSE WATCH COMMENTARY: PRESIDENTIAL ENEMIES: MEDIA AND GOVS WHO COMPLAIN
By Denny Gulino WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – By the 10th mention the musical cadence of “hydroxychloroquine” had mostly grown old and President Trump was not going to subject his long-suffering audience of reporters to even one more mention, so Sunday night he spared them by cutting off the esteemed NIH specialist Tony Fauci before he could […]
WHITE HOUSE WATCH COMMENTARY: BRACING FOR THE WORST YET
–‘There’ll Be A Lot of Death’ By Denny Gulino WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The president and his experts Saturday warned the nation that next week and the week after are going to see virus death tolls that will far eclipse anything seen so far, as the increasing number of hotspots climb the steepening curve toward their […]
WHITE HOUSE WATCH: AMID THE CONFUSION VIRUS KEEPS SPREADING
By Denny Gulino WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The two most important realities Friday remained the incrementally greater death tolls every day and the fundamental wisdom of distancing while other less important considerations included a new somewhat half-hearted recommendation for everyone to wear masks. There was also new confusion about a number of topics and the beginning […]
DATA FLASH: US MARCH PAYROLLS DROP 701,000, BUT IT’S ONLY THE BEGINNING
–Unemployment Rate Rises to 4.4% from 3.5%, Some See It Rising to 30% By Kevin Kastner WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The March employment report was much weaker than expected, but only reflected the very start of the economic shutdowns. The March 14 survey week fell before the bulk of the government-mandated business shutdowns. As a result, […]
Updating CBO’s Economic Forecast to Account for the Pandemic
WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The following is the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office update text of pandemic-related economic assumptions posted Friday morning by CBO Director Philip Swagel: CBO expects that the economy will contract sharply during the second quarter of 2020 as a result of the continued disruption of commerce stemming from the spread of the novel […]