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 […]
WHITE HOUSE WATCH COMMENTARY: SOME PEOPLE STILL DON’T BELIEVE THE VIRUS IS COMING
By Denny Gulino WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The corona virus has an advantage evident in the Thursday evening Corona Virus Task Force briefing and during the day in several statehouses: It can spread faster than its reputation for being a sneaky killer of the unaware. President Trump tried to correct Task Force expert Deborah Birx, placing […]
NEW PHILADELPHIA FED SURVEY: ALMOST 25% OF DISTRICT COMPANIES SHUT DUE TO PANDEMIC
By Jon Hurdle PHILADELPHIA (MaceNews) – Almost a quarter of companies surveyed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia temporarily shut down because of the coronavirus in the week ending March 29, the Philly Fed said Thursday in its first weekly survey https://www.philadelphiafed.org/-/media/research-and-data/regional-economy/covid-19-survey/2020/20200402-covid-19-bos-survey.pdf?la=en of how businesses in the Third District are responding to the pandemic. […]
DATA FLASH: US INITIAL CLAIMS SPIKE, BACKLOGS TO MAINTAIN FLOW FOR SEVERAL WEEKS
–Initial Claims Double from Previous Week to Record 6.648 Mln By Kevin Kastner WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – Continuing layoffs and administrative backlogs will lift initial claims to new record highs for the next several weeks before the flow of new filings finally slow. This week, the level of new claims was double last week’s, adding to […]
WHITE HOUSE WATCH COMMENTARY: FEDERAL GOVT STILL CATCHING UP WITH VIRUS NEEDS
By Denny Gulino WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – What’s become a literal American deathwatch was a grinding slog on Wednesday with whatever major progress being made behind the scenes obscured by the questions on why progress is not faster. The evening’s Corona Virus Task Force briefing seemed more bogged down with vague answers rather than being illuminated […]