The Federal Open Market Committee announced on Wednesday it would complete purchases of $600 billion in treasury securities in June. Defending the strategy, also known as quantitative easing or QE2, Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed’s actions helped increase stock prices, reduce spreads in credit markets, and lower volatility. Earlier that day, the Fed downgraded [...]
Archive | April, 2011
Consumer Confidence Primed for April Resurgence
The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index looks to make a rebound this month on the wings of signs that the turmoil that roiled Japan, the Middle East and North Africa in March is finally beginning to calm. The Index, which fell 8.6 percentage points to 63.4 in March, after having hit a three-year high of [...]
Jobless Claims to Return to Normal
Initial claims for unemployment jumped from 385,000 to 412,000 in the first week of April, but experts say that this does not signal a reversal of the downward trend in layoffs. Most economists forecast the number of initial weekly claims to go back below 400,000. The more reliable four-week moving average, an average that smoothes [...]
Housing picture bleak in spite of modest gains
Better weather and an improving jobs outlook likely pushed existing home sales upward in March, but foreclosures, tight credit and lingering unemployment continue to dog the housing market as it enters the spring selling season. Home sales will rise 2.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5 million when the National Association of Realtors [...]
Price Pressures Worrisome But Not Dire
Darryl Terrel manages Eastside Service Gas Station on the Lower East Side. Business has suffered lately. On Wednesday, the price of gas exceeded $4.30 per gallon in New York City. “It’s taking food from the babies,” Terrel said. Like most consumers in the American economy, manufacturers fear rising inflationary pressures—but across the country, firms posted [...]
CPI Expected to RIse for Third Straight Month
Over the last couple of months Americans have gotten used to the fact that dishing out a little more cash has become a common occurrence – April will be no different. A recent Bloomberg News Survey indicates that economists are forecasting the third straight month of growth in the Consumer Price Index. “We expect high [...]
Retail Sales Start to Run out of Fuel
Retail sales are expected to show modest gains for the month of March, as the rise in gasoline prices has slowed further growth. As a whole, retail sales are expected to grow, but at a smaller rate than the 0.5 percent projected by a Bloomberg News survey. While another gain would prove to be the [...]
Higher Exports in February May Narrow the Trade Deficit
The trade deficit likely narrowed in February due to growth in exports. A consensus survey of 71 estimates show a median trade gap of $44 billion, a 5 percent decrease from January’s $46.3 billion. One indication that exports were strong in February is in the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) national report, which shows that [...]
Supply Anxiety Drives Strong March Auto Sales
Toyota salesman Mitch Schechter made good money selling Prius hybrids in March, but he stands to make a killing in April. The Prius is one of several models that suffered production shutdowns in Japan after the March 11th earthquake. Spurred by the fear of limited inventory, consumers then flocked to Toyota dealerships to snag a [...]
U.S. Farmers Rapidly Losing Market Share in Panama
For American farmers, the pending trade agreement with Panama is no longer about potential gains but about preventing the loss of existing export markets. Since 2007, when the agreement was signed, U.S. share of Panama’s agricultural imports has steadily declined, to 38 percent last year from 60 percent, according to the Department of Commerce. The [...]
