Confidence drives consumer spending, and the health of the labor market underpins how secure households feel about loosening their wallets. As fall begins, the latest survey data shows consumers growing more cautious about both jobs and the economy, signaling potential headwinds for discretionary categories such...
New import levies have Americans facing the highest tariff rates in nearly a century. The tariffs announced last week on prescription drugs, heavy trucks and furniture have led to an overall average effective tariff rate of 17.9%, the highest since 1934, Seeking Alpha reported Saturday...
This week’s Weekender takes a brisk, slightly irreverent lap around real, historical financial rescues, from J.P. Morgan’s locked-door diplomacy to depositors getting saved while shareholders didn’t. With Washington now signaling it will do what is needed to support Argentina’s economy, including talks over a large...
The auto industry is reportedly being rocked by tariffs, the expense of electrification and cautious consumers. The troubles of some companies in this sector may signal difficulties to come in the broader economy, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Thursday (Sept. 25). The report pointed...
U.S. business activity continued growing in September, though the rate of growth slowed for the second consecutive month, S&P Global said Tuesday (Sept. 23). The company’s Flash U.S. Composite PMI Output Index slipped from 54.6 in August to 53.6 in September, with growth slowing in...
Financial technology firm FIS says it has turned its Private Capital Suite into a cloud-native software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution. FIS announced this change Tuesday (Sept. 23), adding that the tool had been “upgraded into a fully front-to-back solution” by integrating the company’s recently-launched Investor Services Suite. “At its core, the...
For decades, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has measured the cost of living in America. However, this figure doesn’t tell the full story about inflation, former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Gene Ludwig argued in an interview with Bloomberg News Monday (Sept. 22). “The CPI is not tremendously relevant...
Global trade has grown more uncertain, with tariffs hardening into a new economic reality for businesses in the United States. For mid-market companies, the challenge is no longer whether tariffs will impact their operations, but how to preserve profitability without driving customers away in the...
The number of Americans filing for unemployment dropped by 33,000 last week, reversing the previous week’s increase that had taken the number to its highest level in almost four years. There were 231,000 initial claims during the week ended Friday (Sept. 13), down from the...