The U.S. economy continued a strong summer, adding 209,000 jobs in July while the unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent, the lowest since March 2001, according to a government report Friday. Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected the report to show growth of 183,000; the unemployment rate met expectations. A more encompassing rate that includes […]
Tag: us economy
Yellen Says Rate Hikes Will Slow As Inflation Stays Low
The Federal Reserve could scale back on its expected pace of interest rate hikes if inflation continues to be soft, Chair Janet Yellen told Congress. Under questioning over why the central bank remains committed to normalizing policy even as price and wage pressures remain muted, Yellen said the Fed is aware of the softness in […]
Trade Deficit Shrinks At Record Rate
The U.S. trade deficit declined sharply in February as imports from China fell by a record amount and American exports rose for a third straight month. The Commerce Department says the deficit fell to $43.6 billion in February, 9.6 per cent below January’s deficit of $48.2 billion. Exports rose a tiny 0.2 per cent to […]
Trump To Tackle American Trade Deficit
President Donald Trump is expected to sign two executive orders on Friday, which aim to fulfill key campaign promises to make trade more fair. The first commissions a report on trade practices that contribute to the trade deficit, while the second seeks better collection of anti-dumping and countervailing duties. The report, spearheaded by the Commerce […]
Automation Pushing America To Universal Basic Income For It’s Citizens
Is a guaranteed paycheck from the government, with no strings attached, the answer to the relentless rise of automation? The concept might sound far-fetched, but a so-called universal basic income (UBI), is currently one of the most hotly debated policy topics being floated as a means to address income inequality and the disruption that technology […]
Robots, A.I. Boom May Cost US, UK At Least 33% Of Their Jobs
Up to one-third of British jobs could be taken over by robots by the early 2030s, impacting 10 million Britons but with women less likely to face redundancy, a UK study showed. The research, by accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, found 30 percent of UK jobs could face automation compared to 38 percent in the United […]
Despite Trump Boasts, Job Numbers Identical To Obama
President Donald Trump on Friday flipped his approach to the government’s employment report, celebrating the kind of strong showing he dismissed as phony under President Barack Obama. The Labor Department reported that the economy created 235,000 jobs in February, above the 190,000 consensus, allowing the president to claim that business enthusiasm over his approach to […]
Stock Market Soars Post Election, Corrections Coming
Donald Trump’s election has given a quick boost to stocks, with the Dow Jones industrial average touching all-time highs. Since markets closed Tuesday, the Dow and the S&P 500 are up about 3 percent — and that’s after coming back from the massive Tuesday night drop. Some market observers expect that boom to continue through […]
No election fears: Consumer confidence hits 9-year high
Consumer confidence rose in September to its highest level since August 2007 — before the Great Recession. The data, released Tuesday by the Conference Board, a business association, helps dismiss arguments that the uncertainty of the election is weighing down Americans’ perception of the economy, said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, a […]