Category Archives: Macro Economics

Retail Sales Slowing

Posted on September 18, 2024 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs Breaking News: The Federal Reserve just announced it’s first rate cut of 0.50%, which lowers its Fed Funds rate from 5.25% to 4.75%. Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for August 2024, adjusted for seasonal … Continue reading →

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Fed’s Preferred Inflation Indicator Softens

Posted on June 5, 2024 by Popular Economics Weekly

Popular Economics Weekly The latest economic data show the US economy slowed in Q1 2024, but economic growth should increase in the second quarter because consumers will continue to spend. Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE), the best measure of overall consumer … Continue reading →

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Retail Sales Decline Worrying

Posted on May 16, 2024 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs The bad news might be good news, though it presages further grief for some consumers. Retail sales didn’t increase at all in April, and the Consumers Price Index showed lower inflation, with its annual rate dropping to 3.4 … Continue reading →

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Why the Inflation Confusion?

Posted on May 14, 2024 by Popular Economics Weekly

Popular Economics Weekly Most pundits (and propagandists) don’t know who to blame for ‘sticky’ inflation, so they blame those who haven’t caused it—such as the current administration or the Federal Reserve. But the sudden rise in prices of the past … Continue reading →

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Inflation Target Reached?

Posted on April 27, 2024 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs Inflation is probably as close to the Federal Reserve’s inflation target of 2 percent as possible this year, according to its favorite inflation index, the Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index (PCE) that is the best overall measure of … Continue reading →

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Consumers Confident No Recession

Posted on March 11, 2024 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs There is a good reason why we have avoided a recession. Consumers don’t believe it will happen. And consumers drive some 70 percent of US economic activity. So their attitudes tend to make or break economic growth. When … Continue reading →

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It’s A Soft Landing

Posted on March 8, 2024 by Popular Economics Weekly

Popular Economics Weekly A terrific February employment report is further evidence the US economy has made a soft landing. FREDemployment Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 275,000 in February, and the unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 3.9 percent from … Continue reading →

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Inflation Is Going Nowhere

Posted on March 1, 2024 by Popular Economics Weekly

Popular Economics Weekly I said recently that the US economy has made a soft landing. Here is further proof with the release of the government’s Personal Consumption Expenditure Index (PCE) that measures consumer spending. Inflation has flattened and been stuck … Continue reading →

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High Productivity the Key

Posted on February 19, 2024 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs There is a major reason the US economy is doing well in so many ways—with plunging inflation, surging consumer spending, and the highest economic growth of developed countries—that is often overlooked in economic reports. Labor productivity has been … Continue reading →

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Slower Retail Sales, Lower Inflation?

Posted on February 16, 2024 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs The New Year is proving to have lots of ups and downs as consumer spending slows from the holidays. Tax season is afoot, of course, a time when consumers tend to save more and spend less. That’s why … Continue reading →

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