Turmoil in the markets has renewed fears that the US did not escape history after all, that a hard landing — a recession — is coming. Whether this is all a blip from a rising yen or a justified reaction to an actual weakening of the US economy is still unknowable. But there are reasons … Read more
Fiscal conservatism has more or less vanished from America’s political landscape. Government borrowing, despite the strong economy, continues to push public debt to record levels – and the presidential contenders and their parties say scarcely a word about it. To the extent they discuss economic policy at all, their intentions on taxes and public spending … Read more
The performance of America’s economy over the past two years has been remarkable, especially given the dire predictions of many observers. Remember the economists who forecast a recession in 2023? Remember all those warnings that getting inflation down would require years of high unemployment? Instead, our economic growth has been the envy of other wealthy … Read more
U.S. inflation rose moderately in March, but that is unlikely to change financial markets’ expectations that the Federal Reserve will hold off cutting interest rates until September. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index increased 0.3% last month, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Friday. Data for February was unrevised to show … Read more
Production at U.S. factories increased solidly in March as output at motor vehicle assembly plants and elsewhere rose, suggesting that manufacturing was turning the corner after being constrained by higher borrowing costs. Manufacturing output rose 0.5% last month after an upwardly revised 1.2% rebound in the prior month, the Federal Reserve said on Tuesday. Factory … Read more
Assembly lines around the world are starting to hum again, marking a turn in a years-long manufacturing slump. The nascent industrial recovery is led by the world’s two biggest economies. Chinese manufacturing has made a strong start to the year, boosting the economic outlook, and US factory activity unexpectedly expanded last month for the first … Read more
The UK-based cosmetics company, The Body Shop, shut down all of its US-based operations and will soon be closing dozens of Canadian store locations after filing for bankruptcy, CNN reported. Earlier this month, The Body Shop, in an official release, announced that its US subsidiary was no longer operational, effective March 1. It further added … Read more
Just a quarter of business economists and analysts expect the United States to fall into recession this year. And any downturn would likely result from an external shock – such as a conflict involving China – rather than from domestic economic factors such as higher interest rates. But respondents to a National Association of Business … Read more
NEW YORK: A strong US economy is among factors that may help American corporate earnings top current forecasts, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. S&P 500 companies’ earnings per share will rise 5% to $237 this year, Goldman strategists led by David Kostin have predicted. That’s already above the median $231 forecast of strategists tracked … Read more
Alexander MacKay co-leads the Pricing Lab at Harvard Business School, a research center devoted to studying how companies set prices. Since the pandemic, he has watched how businesses have become more willing to experiment with what they charge their customers. Big companies that had previously pushed through one standard price increase per year are now … Read more