Category Archives: Weekly Financial News

Retail Sales Splurge Won’t Last

Posted on July 19, 2021 by Popular Economics Weekly

Calculated Risk “Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for June 2021, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, according to the US Census Bureau, but not for price changes, were $621.3 billion, an increase of … Continue reading →

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Why Keep Interest Rates This Low?

Posted on July 15, 2021 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs FREDPersavings Inflation isn’t yet a problem, but are very low interest rates becoming a problem? Interest rates have been at record lows for years, thanks to the Federal Reserve that has been buying up enough bonds and mortgage … Continue reading →

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Too Many Jobs to Fill?

Posted on July 8, 2021 by Popular Economics Weekly

Popular Economics Weekly Calculated Risk There are too many job vacancies at the moment, per the Labor Department’s JOLTS report; though it actually signals that  businesses seem to want workers for the same old jobs, but there’s now a mismatch. … Continue reading →

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A Good Jobs Report

Posted on July 2, 2021 by Popular Economics Weekly

Popular Economics Weekly Market Watch We should be wishing everyone a Happy July Fourth, with the Bureau of Labor Department’s June unemployment report. Workers’ wages in the service sector are rising, with 850,000 new nonfarm payroll jobs added to the … Continue reading →

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Consumer Confidence, Home Prices Soar For How Long?

Posted on July 1, 2021 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs Conference Board Consumer confidence is at record highs, as growing numbers of consumers believe the roaring 2020’s recovery is here to stay. And it’s also sending home price increases to record highs. But this isn’t another housing bubble. … Continue reading →

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Can We Fix the Housing Shortage?

Posted on June 23, 2021 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner Calculated Risk Existing-home sales of single-family, condos and apartments were down slightly from their recent highs for a number of reasons. This is while demand for housing is skyrocketing with home prices up 20 percent year-over-year, but … Continue reading →

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What is Normal Inflation?

Posted on June 19, 2021 by Popular Economics Weekly

Popular Economics Weekly FREDcpi The financial markets were shocked, yes shocked, when the May Consumer Price Index for retail prices jumped 4.9 percent year-over-year. Just kidding. No one was really surprised because one year ago it wasn’t rising at all … Continue reading →

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When the Return to Normal Activity?

Posted on June 17, 2021 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs Calculated Risk When will most American workers return to work, and the U.S. economy return to normal activity? The Calculated Risk-FRED graph since 1992 tells us that retail sales have historically never varied substantially from a 5 percent … Continue reading →

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There Are More Jobs Than Ever!

Posted on June 9, 2021 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs Calculated Risk The number of job openings reached a series high of 9.3 million on the last business day of April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last Tuesday. Hires were little changed at 6.1 million. Total separations … Continue reading →

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Who Lost Their Jobs?

Posted on June 4, 2021 by Popular Economics Weekly

Popular Economics Weekly MarketWatch.com This would be a good jobs report at any other time. Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 559,000 in May, from a revised 278,000 jobs in May, and the unemployment rate declined by 0.3 percentage point … Continue reading →

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