Monthly Archives: March 2017

Strong Jobs Report = Rising Interest Rates

Popular Economics Weekly Economists are almost unanimous that the Fed will raise their short term rates at next week’s FOMC meeting. This is because total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 235,000 in February, and the unemployment rate fell slightly to … Continue reading

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U.S. Will Badly Need Immigrants

Popular Economics Weekly For most of the past half-century, adults in the U.S. Baby Boom generation – those born after World War II and before 1965 – have been the main driver of the nation’s expanding workforce, reports the PEW … Continue reading

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A Gangbusters Jobs Report Tomorrow?

Financial FAQs It looks like tomorrow’s unemployment report could be the best of the New Year.  That’s because ADP’s February private payroll estimate is 298,000, a yuge number. This would make tomorrow’s jobs report the biggest gain since October 2015 … Continue reading

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2017 Manufacturing Off To Good Start

Popular Economics Weekly What is happening with manufacturing? The ISM manufacturing index jumped 1.7 points in February to a 57.7 level that beats the consensus by 1.3 points. This is the strongest rate of monthly growth in composite activity since … Continue reading

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Slower Q4 Growth, (But) Higher Consumer Confidence

Financial FAQs The growth in the U.S. economy in the final quarter of Barack Obama’s presidency was left at 1.9 percent, held down by a bigger trade deficit even as consumer spending rebounded strongly. In fact, Q4 GDP growth slowed … Continue reading

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