Category Archives: Consumers

No Job Losses Due to Coronavirus—Yet

Posted on March 7, 2020 by Popular Economics Weekly

Popular Economics Weekly MarketWatch The Labor Department’s February employment survey took place in the middle of February, before the coronavirus began its worldwide spread. So we will have to wait for March employment figures to know its impact on employment, … Continue reading →

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The Wages of Fear in a Recession—Part II

Posted on March 2, 2020 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs FRED Is the U.S. economy already in recession? How can it be with more than 80 percent of the adult workforce employed? But that isn’t how recessions actually begin, as portrayed in the above St. Louis Fed unemployment … Continue reading →

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The Wages of Fear In Distrustful Times

Posted on February 28, 2020 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs Goldman Sachs The Wages of Fear is a famous 1950s French film starring Yves Montand about four men that agree to carry a very dangerous cargo of nitroglycerine, the main dynamite ingredient, through a remote South American jungle … Continue reading →

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Housing Market (Still) Alive and Well

Posted on February 24, 2020 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner FRED-ICAP All is still well with residential housing into this new year. Both housing starts and permits exceeded predictions, with starts now at 1.57 annual units, and permits at a 13-year high of 1.551 million units annualized. … Continue reading →

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What Is A More Livable Community?

Posted on February 21, 2020 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner pccfarmlandtrust.org There is a budding national movement to build more affordable housing with the growing housing shortage (and homeless) problem. It is just one more facet of the so-called Livable Cities movement begun in the 1980s that … Continue reading →

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Why Are Retail Sales Struggling?

Posted on February 15, 2020 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs Calculated Risk Retail sales have slowed markedly since the fall of 2019, with monthly overall sales up just 0.3 percent, and rising 3.9 percent annually without volatile gasoline prices. This means the U.S. is basically stuck in a … Continue reading →

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Who Is Fully Employed in January?

Posted on February 7, 2020 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs MarketWatch It looks like everyone is employed in the service sector, but manufacturing is sputtering. There were 44,000 new construction jobs and a whopping 72,000 in Education and health services. But manufacturing lost another 12,000 jobs in January; … Continue reading →

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Has the Housing Market Recovered?

Posted on January 27, 2020 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner FRED The just-released single-family sales graph highlights a very important fact. New-home sales—especially for single-family residences—are back to historical levels last seen in 2000. The Great Recession and oversupply during the housing bubble caused so much damage … Continue reading →

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Retail Sales Strengthen Q4 Growth

Posted on January 22, 2020 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner FRED It looks like consumers came through during the holidays, as retail sales jumped 0.3 percent in December and are up 3.5 percent from a year ago, per the above FRED (St. Louis Fed) graph. It might … Continue reading →

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Housing Construction at 13-Year High

Posted on January 18, 2020 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner Wrightson.com U.S. homebuilding surged to a 13-year high in December as activity increased across the board, suggesting the housing market recovery was back on track amid low mortgage rates, and could help support the longest economic expansion … Continue reading →

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