Category Archives: Weekly Financial News

Interest Rates Dangerously Low?

Popular Economics Weekly Graph: FRED Why should historically low interest rates be a problem, you say?  Doesn’t that help consumer demand by enabling consumers to buy more by borrowing more cheaply, and economic growth by encouraging companies to create more … Continue reading

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Why aren’t Wages Growing Faster?

Popular Economics Weekly Graph: FRED Interest rates are far too low for this late in the recovery from the Great Recession. We know this because the Treasury Yield Curve has been falling that measures the difference between the 10-year and … Continue reading

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Slower July Jobs Growth

Popular Economics Weekly Graph: MarketWatch Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 157,000 in July, and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in professional and business services, in manufacturing, … Continue reading

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Better Economic Growth Ahead?

Popular Economics Weekly Real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 4.1 percent in the second quarter of 2018, according to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the first quarter, real GDP increased … Continue reading

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Housing Sales Are Slowing

The Mortgage Corner Existing-home sales decreased for the third straight month in June, as declines in the South and West exceeded sales gains in the Northeast and Midwest, reports the National Association of Realtors. The ongoing supply and demand imbalance … Continue reading

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The Dire Consequences of Record Income Inequality

ANSWERING the KENNEDYS CALL In a new Economic Policy Institute report entitled The New Gilded Age, income inequality has risen in every state since the 1970s, and in most states it has continued to grow in the post–Great Recession era. … Continue reading

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US Economic Self-Destruction Imminent?

Financial FAQs The International Monetary Fund has just warned that President Trump’s trade wars could cost the world’s economies some $430B in lost growth. The Washington-based organisation said the current threats made by the US and its trading partners risked … Continue reading

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Is 4% GDP Growth Real?

Popular Economics Weekly Graph: Econoday Many economists, including Trump economic advisor Larry Kudlow, are predicting up to 4 percent economic growth over the next few quarters. Why? Full employment is enticing consumers to buy more, with booming retail sales and … Continue reading

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Inflation On the Rise

The Mortgage Corner Inflation is finally rising enough to bite into consumers’ paychecks. It is also a sign that economic growth is increasing at least temporarily, as consumers borrow more to buy more. But the bottom 50 percent of income … Continue reading

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Consumers ‘Another Day Older and Deeper in Debt…”

Popular Economics Weekly “Ya load sixteen tons, whaddya get, another day older and deeper in debt…”, the famous folksong sung by Burl Ives and Tennessee Ernie Ford describes today’s consumers who are still spending huge amounts of borrowed money at … Continue reading

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