Every four months, the Federal Reserve releases its survey of household spending, offering a snapshot into where household budgets have been allocated and where paychecks are earmarked for future spending. In the August results, released Monday (Sept. 15), the pace of spending slowed, although many...
Inflation’s pace quickened in August, and in the key category of food — and specifically grocery prices — the pinch on the household budget has been palpable. Data released on Thursday (Sept. 11) showed that in August, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers...
More Americans filed for unemployment last week than in any week since 2021, the Department of Labor said in a Thursday (Sept. 11) press release. There were 263,000 initial claims during the week ended Friday (Sept. 6), a figure that was 27,000 higher than the...
The Labor Department’s Office of the Inspector General said Wednesday (Sept. 10) that it has begun a review of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ “challenges” in collecting and reporting economic data. In a letter addressed to William J. Wiatrowski, acting commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Laura B. Nicolosi, assistant...
Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said Wednesday (Sept. 10) that low-income consumers are “living on the edge.” Speaking with CNBC’s Squawk Box, Scharf said the bank’s data shows that these consumers are spending the money they have and that their balances are below pre-pandemic levels....
U.S. import cargo volumes are projected to decline for the remainder of 2025, after a near-record summer surge driven by retailers stocking up ahead of rising tariffs and an unpredictable trade policy landscape. The Global Port Tracker report, released Tuesday (Sept. 9) by the National...
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon sounded a warning on Tuesday (Sept. 9) after the latest labor market data showed the U.S. economy slowing. A revised report from the Labor Department earlier that day showed the economy created far fewer jobs than previously thought, revising downward...
Small businesses sentiment rose last month despite ongoing worries about labor shortages. That’s according to the latest edition of the Small Business Optimism Index from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), released Tuesday (Sept. 9) and showing the index rising 0.5 points to 100.8 for August....
Even before the latest job numbers were released on Friday (Sept. 5), PYMNTS Intelligence had been busy uncovering the ways in which various households—across income levels and whether they’d been living paycheck to paycheck—viewed their job prospects. In a nutshell, they weren’t exactly sanguine at...