US economy

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GDP Growth Returns, but Economists Still Predict Recession
US Economy Bounces Back,
but It Might Be Short-Lived
THE RUNDOWN

US Economy Bounces Back, but It Might Be Short-Lived

Things are worse than growth figures suggest, analysts say

(Newser) - The US economy grew at a better-than-expected 2.6% annual rate from July through September, snapping two straight quarters of economic contraction and overcoming punishingly high inflation and interest rates, the A P reports—but many economists say the outlook is worse than the figures suggest. Thursday's estimate from...

GDP Report Contains Informal Sign of a Recession

US economy shrank for 2nd quarter in a row

(Newser) - The US economy shrank from April through June for a second straight quarter, contracting at a 0.9% annual pace and raising fears that the nation may be approaching a recession. The decline that the Commerce Department reported Thursday in the gross domestic product—the broadest gauge of the economy—...

Falling Productivity May Signal Trouble Despite Strong Hiring

NYT columnist says productivity is a better economic indicator than jobs

(Newser) - June's employment report surprised most analysts, as US businesses added 372,000 jobs, way above expectations. The strong numbers dampened talk of impending recession, but what do they say about the strength of the economy overall? By themselves, they don’t really say much, according to New York Times ...

Commerce Chief: Let's Stop 'Talking Ourselves Into a Recession'

Gina Raimondo says a severe downturn is not inevitable

(Newser) - Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is worried that talk of a recession will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. In an ABC News interview Sunday with George Stephanopoulos on This Week, Raimondo recounted a recent conversation with an unnamed CEO. "He said, 'The economy's strong. Customers are buying. Businesses are...

Restaurant Owner's Survival: Working 72-Hour Weeks

Half of small businesses say their rent has increased in the last 6 months

(Newser) - The rent has come due for America’s small businesses and at a very inopportune time. Landlords were lenient about rent payments during the first two years of the pandemic. Now, many are asking for back rent, and some are raising the current rent as well. Meanwhile, most of the...

What to Do, and Not to Do, as a Recession Looms
What to Do, and Not to Do,
as a Recession Looms
the rundown

What to Do, and Not to Do, as a Recession Looms

Dow drops below 30K as bear market deepens

(Newser) - The stock market actually rose Wednesday in the immediate aftermath of the Fed's decision to raise rates by a whopping 0.75% . Thursday, not so much. Major indexes fell more than 2% in early trading and sent the Dow below 30,000, its lowest level in more than a...

Elon Musk Has 'Super Bad Feeling' About Economy

He says Tesla needs to cut 10% of jobs

(Newser) - Just days after he declared that working from home was unacceptable, Elon Musk has decided some Tesla employees don't need to come back at all. In an email to execs seen by Reuters, the Tesla CEO says he is planning to cut around 10% of jobs at the company...

Bank CEO: 'Brace Yourself' for an Economic 'Hurricane'

'We don’t know if it’s a minor one or Superstorm Sandy,' Jamie Dimon says

(Newser) - The chief of America's largest bank says an economic "hurricane" is brewing and the Federal Reserve will face a huge challenge as it tries to rein in inflation without causing a recession. "Right now it's kind of sunny, things are doing fine. Everyone thinks the Fed...

April Report Holds Tentative Sign Inflation Could Be Peaking

It hit 8.3% last month, but slowed from 40-year high

(Newser) - Inflation slowed in April after seven months of relentless gains, a tentative sign that price increases may be peaking while still imposing a financial strain on American households. Consumer prices jumped 8.3% last month from 12 months earlier, the Labor Department said Wednesday. That was below the 8.5%...

US Economy Shrinks for the First Time Since 2020

But experts say the economy is still robust

(Newser) - In the first quarter of 2022, the US economy shrank for the first time since COVID sent it into a "deep, dark hole" in 2020—but economists believe the fall in GDP is a blip, not a sign the US is entering a recession again. The economy contracted at...

His Father's Death Exposed Family's Fall From Middle Class

The exact opposite of intergenerational wealth is forcing families out of the middle class

(Newser) - "Backward mobility" is one term economists use to describe the descent of many middle-class families into "the bottom 50% of Americans who collectively have a negative net worth." That financial trend is the background for Eli Saslow's piece for the Washington Post on the "death...

Key Inflation Measure Hits a 39-Year High

Meanwhile, consumer spending fell 0.6% last month

(Newser) - A measure of prices that is closely tracked by the Federal Reserve rose 5.8% last year, the sharpest increase since 1982, as brisk consumer spending collided with snarled supply chains to raise the costs of food, furniture, appliances, and other goods. The report Friday from the Commerce Department also...

Bounce Back for US Economy in 2021 Was a Major One

Nation's GDP saw strongest calendar-year growth since the Reagan years

(Newser) - The US economy grew last year at the fastest pace since Ronald Reagan's presidency, bouncing back with resilience from 2020's brief but devastating coronavirus recession. The nation's gross domestic product—its total output of goods and services—expanded 5.7% in 2021. It was the strongest calendar-year...

Americans Might Have to Spend Like Europeans
Americans Might Have
to Spend Like Europeans
opinion

Americans Might Have to Spend Like Europeans

Ever-increasing consumption isn't a sustainable model, Allison Schrager writes

(Newser) - The data back up the notion that the buying and selling of consumer goods drives the US economy. Two-thirds of the gross domestic product consists of household consumption. Especially when the economic going gets tough, Americans are urged to go shopping. But the system has hit a snag, with prices...

White House Ditches Its Favorite Word About Inflation


White House
Ditches Its
Favorite Word
About Inflation

the rundown

White House Ditches Its Favorite Word About Inflation

Biden and officials no longer downplaying rise in prices as 'transitory'

(Newser) - For months, the White House downplayed concerns about inflation by describing the steep rise in prices as "transitory"—just a temporary blip related to the pandemic recovery. But as Kevin Liptak writes in a CNN analysis, President Biden didn't use the term Wednesday when discussing the news...

Got Milk Controversy? CNN Does
Got Milk Controversy?
CNN Does
THE RUNDOWN

Got Milk Controversy? CNN Does

A Texas family's milk consumption was featured in a news segment on inflation; backlash followed

(Newser) - The US economy continues to be a hot topic, especially as we head toward another winter still wrangling with COVID, and a CNN report this week tried to get to the heart of "how badly inflation is hitting the middle class." The five-minute segment intro'd by commentator...

Fed Now Expects Inflation to Linger

Central bank is going to start dialing back economic aid

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve will begin dialing back the extraordinary economic aid it's provided since the pandemic erupted last year, a response to high inflation that now looks likely to persist longer than it did just a few months ago . In a statement Wednesday after its latest policy meeting, the...

A Swing and a Miss for September's Jobs Report

Just 194K jobs were added last month

(Newser) - US employers added just 194,000 jobs in September, a second straight tepid gain and evidence that the pandemic still has a grip on the economy, with many companies struggling to fill millions of open jobs. Friday's report from the Labor Department also showed that the unemployment rate fell...

Stocks Dip After Fed Says Economy &#39;Downshifted&#39;
Stocks Drop After Fed
Releases 'Beige Book'
MARKETS

Stocks Drop After Fed Releases 'Beige Book'

Economy 'downshifted' over the summer

(Newser) - Stocks closed lower on Wall Street Wednesday following a Federal Reserve report that shows US economic activity slowed this summer amid rising worries over resurgent coronavirus cases and mounting supply chain problems and labor shortages. The Fed’s latest survey of the nation’s business conditions, dubbed the “Beige...

Federal Reserve Chair Signals a 'Tapering' May Be Coming

Jerome Powell says if hiring stays on track, Fed will start to pull back on its low-rate pandemic policies

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve will start dialing back its ultra-low-rate policies this year as long as hiring continues to improve, Chair Jerome Powell said Friday, signaling the beginning of the end of the Fed's extraordinary response to the pandemic recession. Investors seemed to like the sentiment, with markets rising, notes...

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