So why was Friday’s jobs report for July so worrying?
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the U.S. economy added 1.8 million jobs in July. Not a bad number, on an absolute scale. 1.8 million jobs is a lot of jobs. And the total did beat economists' expectations by about 300,000 jobs. But... The total...
Just when we need good data, the numbers are failing us
What's the state of the labor market? On Thursday the Labor Department reported that new claims for unemployment fell, unexpectedly, for the week ended August 1 to 1.19 million. That was down by 249,000 from the week before. Initial claims remain at five times their...
If the dollar gets stronger, it won’t be good news for emerging market assets
The weak dollar of the past few months has been a boon to emerging market assets. It has made the dollar-denominated interest payments that many companies in these economies need to make cheaper in local currency terms. It has helped support financial assets in...
Damage to the real economy piles up while Washington fiddles
The latest news out of the coronavirus economic rescue package talks is that there has been no progress on the big issues the separate the two sides: among them restoring the $600 (or some number) enhanced weekly unemployment benefit and funding for city and state...
Saturday Night Quarterback says, For the week ahead, here’s the recipe for volatility…
Congressional leaders, plus White House negotiators chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, met today, Saturday, August 1, in an attempt to hammer out some kind of coronavirus rescue package that would support what looks like a flagging...
After tech earnings beats, market leadership narrows again
After blow-out earnings from Apple (AAPL) and PayPal (PYPL) yesterday and strong beats from Amazon (AMZN), and Facebook (FB), it's not hard to understand why, as of 2:30 p.m. New York time on Friday, the NASDAQ is leading all the indexes. At the hour the NASDAQ...Congress blows it on the economy
The Senate left Washington yesterday without putting its plan for the next coronavirus aid package on the table. That guarantees, in case you had any doubt, that the enhanced $600 a week unemployment benefit that, for practical purposes, expires with today's payment,...
Quickly, some of the Trump administration’s lines in the sand for the next coronavirus rescue package get washed away
You remember those lines in sand that the Trump White House declared before it began talks with the leaders of the Republican-controlled Senate? Well, a number of them have already vanished, washed out of existence by the fears of Republican Senators that the White...
Initial claims for unemployment total ticks up, ends downward streak
Too much news today. But let me start. Today the Labor Department reported that new claims for unemployment through regular state programs rose to 1.42 million in the week ended July 18. That was a 109,000 increase from the prior week and the first increase in the...
Here’s my pick for getting in on the coronavirus vaccine race
In case you needed a reminder that there's a coronavirus vaccine race going on, today Pfizer (PFE) and its partner BioNTech (BNTX) announced that they had signed a $2 billion deal with the U.S. government to provide 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine...
Let the stimulus logrolling begin (I hope): Republicans near $1 trillion (maybe) with Democrats at $3 trillion as McConnell describes his plan on Senate floor
Of course, there isn't actually a Republican bill in the Senate yet, but in a floor speech today Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said “The American economy needs another shot of adrenaline.” McConnell also noted that infections are “climbing in hot spots around...Jim’s Stock Alerts
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