Category Archives: Weekly Financial News

Consumers Much Happier This Season

Financial FAQs Consumer confidence in December as measured by the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index is rising again; it jumped 10 points to 110.7 from 101. Why should that be, with all the doom and gloom and geopolitical uncertainty bombarding … Continue reading

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How Low Can Interest Rates Go?

The Mortgage Corner Stocks and bonds are rallying after Chairman Powell sounded dovish for the first time at his December press conference following their last FOMC meeting of the year. “The question of when it will be appropriate to begin … Continue reading

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Please Drop Interest Rates Sooner!

Financial FAQs If I were the Fed Governors, I wouldn’t wait for inflation to drop further to begin lowering interest rates. The inflation rate has been falling steadily for more than a year and we might be in the midst of a … Continue reading

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More Jobs Than Ever!

Popular Economics Weekly This is what is called a ‘soft landing’. More jobs are being created in November’s unemployment report, though some 50,000 of the 199,000 new nonfarm payroll jobs are strikers returning to work in Hollywood productions and auto … Continue reading

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Higher Productivity Lowers Inflation

Financial FAQs Why has the Fed got it so wrong with inflation, even though the inflation rate has been falling steadily for more than a year? Paul Krugman in a recent NYTimes Op-ed said the personal consumption expenditure deflator (PCE) … Continue reading

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What Happens Next?

Popular Economics Weekly What does the future foretell? Everyone wants to know what will happen next year now that the Fed is on hold and inflation continues to decline. I believe the construction industry is telling us the economy will … Continue reading

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Shoppers Happy, Lower Inflation

Financial FAQs There are two indicators that show consumers will continue to support economic growth this year, (and hence avoid a recession), while inflation is continuing to decline. Firstly, Thanksgiving, the biggest shopping holiday, lured in more shoppers than ever. … Continue reading

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Housing Starts Up, Recession Worries Over?

Financial FAQs The best indicator of a looming recession is to watch how consumers behave. And this will be a record year for travel on the ground and in the air. So, would consumers continue travelling if they saw financial … Continue reading

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Where’s the Inflation–Part II?

Popular Economics Weekly We can also look at the behavior of wholesale prices to see if inflation has been conquered. The Producer Price Index has been at or below the Fed’s target 2 percent since May 2023. It’s the cost … Continue reading

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Where’s the Inflation?

Financial FAQs What if there’s too little inflation? That’s actually the definition of a recession. It seems unlikely at the moment and inflation is still a major upset for consumers. But it could happen if the Fed doesn’t ease up on … Continue reading

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