economy
Spike in Unemployment
11.07.08- From the NY Times: “The unemployment rate spiked to 6.5 percent from 6.1 percent, the highest level since 1994. Many analysts now expect unemployment will reach 8 percent by the middle of next year.” Looks like the frantic action of crusty central bankers and panic-stricken politicians isn’t doing anything too stop the economy from [...]
Hello, Cliff!
It seems as if America’s fiscal situation is rolling quickly toward
the edge of a big scary cliff. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget
Office (CBO) warned earlier this week that the combined forces of
a weakening economy and high maintenance costs associated with
fighting two wars is causing the federal budget outlook to darken
significantly over the next few years.
The CBO [...]
The Economy: Not Dead Yet!- by Greg Strid
The economy is not dead yet! The Commerce Department
reported that the U.S. glowed under the warm light created
by 3.3 percent real economic growth in the second quarter.
This new reading almost doubles the original tally of 1.9
percent- which provided barely enough wattage to read
the fine print on mortgage, credit card and auto loan
statements.
According to Marketwatch.com, the [...]
The Economy: Just Limping Along- by Greg Strid
Less than swell news came from the bowels of
government bureaucracy this morning. The
Commerce Department reported that the US
economy grew at an annual rate of 1.9 percent
in the second quarter, which was less than
predicted by economists, and it actually
contracted by 0.2 percent in the final three
months of 2007.
It appears that the sources of growth in America’s
sputtering [...]
Banks Bounce Back from the Dead
Bank shares are back in style. Even after staggering losses were announced by the likes of Wachovia, which registered a $8.9 billion loss in the second quarter, and Washington Mutual, which posted a $3.3 billion stain of red ink in the same period, their shares traded up by 27 percent and 6 percent, respectively.
The share [...]
Six Months of Job Losses and the Credit Bubble
Poof! That was the sound of approximately 62,000 jobs vanishing from the U.S. economy last month. June marks the sixth straight month of job losses. As for the month of May’s half percentage point spike in the unemployment rate to 5.5 percent - it stayed the same for June as well. Whaddya know? That huge [...]
Beware the Naked Emperor- by Greg Strid
The worst possible employment numbers were revealed
before the stock market’s opening bell this morning. The
U.S. economy managed to create a paltry 18,000 new
jobs in the last month of 2007. The unemployment rate
jumped from 4.7 to 5 percent, although average hourly
wages expanded by 0.4 percent- which is a good deal
more than was expected, and raises fears [...]
Take my house, please!
The housing market has been cooling off as of late. The sale of single-family homes declined 5 percent from June to July, and are off 11.4 percent from a year ago. Although the national median home price rose 1.5 percent over the past twelve months, there are signs that the frothiest coastal markets are [...]
