The national unemployment rate reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics jumped from 3.5 percent to 3.8 percent in August as an additional 514,000 Americans said they could not find work in the Bureau’s household survey. Now 6.3 million Americans are said to be unemployed, the highest in more than a year.
But it did not come with a commensurate drop in the number of Americans saying they were working, which also increased by 222,000 to 161.48 million.
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The latest index of U.S. consumer confidence fell to a new low in the month of August, hitting levels that would normally indicate a coming recession.
As Breitbart reports, the Conference Board confirmed on Tuesday that the index fell to 106.1 in August, down from 114 in July. Economists had originally projected that it would rise to 116.6, and had predicted that July would reach 117.0.
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Despite incorrectly predicting a mild recession for the first two quarters this year, Florida officials estimate that the state’s economy and tax revenues will continue to grow.
The Office of Economic and Demographic Research held a Revenue Estimating Conference last week, with officials saying that the “current economic environment presented significant forecasting challenges.”
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The unemployment rate still remains at historic lows of 3.4 percent in April, according to the latest data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, amid other worrying signs for the U.S. economy including a continued collapse of job openings, a string of bank failure and an overall slowing Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
In the survey, as the population increased by 171,000, those not in the labor force increased by 214,000 as labor participation dipped slightly by 43,000. Those who said they had a job increased by 139,000 after a 577,000 increase in March. As a result, the unemployment rate has actually ticked downward for two consecutive months from 3.6 percent in February, to 3.5 percent in March and now 3.4 percent in April.
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Amid what it is describing as a “weaker demand environment,” Memphis-based FedEx has announced that it will close 29 freight locations as part of its plan to cut more than $1 billion in expenses.
In the closing of the locations, the company will furlough certain employees for at least three months.
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As President Biden embarks on his reelection campaign, a majority of American voters are dissatisfied with his stewardship of the U.S. economy. Aware of the general angst among the electorate, Biden is threading the needle by saying he’s running on the strength of his overall record, while vowing to “finish the job” that he started when he stepped into the Oval Office. It’s a daunting task, with an overwhelming majority of registered voters expressing deep pessimism about the economy: 40.2% say the United States is currently in a recession, 17% call it a general state of stagnation, and 10.4% believe the country is in an outright depression.
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Minnesota had the sixth lowest decrease in unemployment claims since last week, WalletHub reported Thursday.
Across the country, new unemployment claims decreased 7.3% week-over-week March 27 amid high inflation and threat of a recession, the report said.
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Consumer spending fell 0.2% in December from the previous month, the Commerce Department said Friday.
From the same month one year ago, the PCE price index – a closely watched measure of inflation – for December increased 5%. Prices for goods increased 4.6% and prices for services increased 5.2%.
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The U.S. economy grew modestly in the fourth quarter of 2022, despite signs of weak domestic demand, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Thursday.
In the fourth quarter, inflation-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) grew by roughly 2.9%, down slightly from 3.2% in the third quarter, the BEA reported. Recession concerns among economists linger, however, amid fears that the Federal Reserve’s campaign of interest rate hikes — intended to reduce economic demand to slow inflation — will lead to reduced spending and layoffs, The Wall Street Journal reported.
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Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed the author of The Great Money Bubble and former director of the Office of Management and Budget during the Reagan administration, David Stockman on the newsmaker line to breakdown the ramifications of a national budget spun out of control.
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Battered by ongoing high inflation, a majority of Wisconsin businesses see a recession ahead, according to Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce’s latest Wisconsin Employer Survey.
WMC’s survey finds 60 percent of businesses believe the Badger State economy is headed for a recession this year. On the surface, the number appears to be an improvement from last summer’s survey when 71 percent of respondents worried a recession was looming. But Nick Novak, WMC’s vice president of communications and marketing, said more employers moved from being sure about a recession to uncertain about the economy.
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Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed Finance Professor Murray Sabrin to the newsmaker line to give his take on the 2023 economic forecast.
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Of the 23 major financial institutions that work directly with the Federal Reserve, 16 anticipate a recession within the next 12 months, with two anticipating one the year after, according to a survey published by The Wall Street Journal Monday.
These institutions, which range from Bank of America to UBS, note that Americans are spending their savings, banks are heightening lending standards and the housing market is in a decline, all classic warning signs that a recession is impending, the WSJ reported. All of this is being exacerbated, the banks say, by the Fed’s historically aggressive pace of interest rate hikes, designed to blunt stubbornly persistent inflation.
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Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn is preparing to release a video via social media discussing the state’s economy and spoke with The Tennessee Star this week to discuss both the pressures it endures as well as its bright spots compared with other regions.
In the one-minute spot, which shows the senator touring a Clarksville-area manufacturing plant, she discusses the challenge ongoing inflation poses to producers as they attempt to provide affordable goods to Tennesseans.
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Ohio continues to lag behind the rest of the United States in terms of employment according to a report released Friday by the state Department of Job and Family Services.
The data showed unemployment in the Buckeye State remained at 4.2 percent in November, the same as the prior month’s level and a half a point behind the nationwide 3.7-percent rate.
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by Gelet Martínez Fragela As Republicans continue to grapple with a devastating loss among young adults from the 2022 midterm elections, some statistics suggest the GOP has an opportunity to pick up some traction with the Latino youth vote as their concerns could grow with age about crime, inflation…
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Strategists at JPMorgan Chase predicted a recession as soon as the first half of 2023, coupled with a major stock market slide, in a research note Thursday, according to Bloomberg.
The strategists expected the S&P 500 stock index to decline roughly 12% in the first half of next year, before rebounding to end 2023 up 3% as inflation cools and the Federal Reserve slows or reverses its aggressive campaign of interest rate hikes, Bloomberg reported. Despite the expectation that the stock market will rebound by the end of next year, the analysts anticipated that U.S. corporate earnings would fall roughly 9% as demand slumps and economic conditions limit companies’ ability to set higher prices.
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U.S. investors are significantly underestimating the risk of a recession, potentially increasing the impact of a recession next year, economists at Goldman Sachs warned in a Monday research note, according to Bloomberg.
Researchers at Goldman estimate a 39 percent chance of a slowdown in U.S. growth, but risk assets only account for an 11 percent chance, Bloomberg reported. By underestimating the chance of a recession, investors are increasing their exposure to the effects of “recession scares” in 2023, the analysts warned.
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A U.S. senator from Tennessee is hammering President Joe Biden and the Democrat Party on the economy – particularly skyrocketing inflation – ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn has been focused on the topic all week.
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Small business owners believe they’ll benefit from Republican victories in the upcoming elections, according to a new poll.
Most small business employers believe the country is in a recession, and fear that economic conditions will put them out of business, with a majority believing a Republican victory will help them, according to the survey conducted by Rasmussen and the Job Creators Network Foundation (JCNF). The poll reflects a broader concern among voters about economic conditions and historic levels of inflation under the Biden administration.
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Investors are reportedly concerned about mortgage defaults and are unloading Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities, amid record-high interest rates and a rapidly cooling housing market.
Mortgage rates last week hit a two-decade high of 6.92%, a trend that has slowed the booming, often over-priced real estate market during the height of the pandemic.
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If the U.S. Federal Reserve continues its policy of aggressive interest rate hikes, the U.S. could lose hundreds of thousands of jobs, spiking unemployment, according to a Bank of America analysis, CNN reported.
Bank of America’s Chief U.S. Economist Michael Gapen expects roughly six months of relatively high unemployment and a”mild recession,” as the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes blunt consumer demand, he told CNN Monday. However, Gapen also noted that the typical bounceback seen after a recession might be delayed if the Fed, which has been incredibly hawkish on interest rates, refuses to reduce rates.
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Georgia continues to see its revenues increase amid ongoing economic concerns nationwide.
State officials said Friday that the Peach State’s September net tax collections totaled nearly $3.1 billion. That represents an increase of 9.9% over a year ago.
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Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed Fox Business contributor and Wall Street expert Liz Peek on the newsmaker breaks down the current economic trends both in America and Europe citing a possible recession well into mid next year.
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Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio for another edition of Crom’s Crommentary.
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Based on its assumptions, the Federal Reserve is doing everything right by raising interest rates rapidly after years of easy money. It will certainly succeed in its goal of “cooling down” the economy.
Unfortunately, the Fed’s basic assumptions are wrong, and it has already begun reducing Americans’ standard of living, as indicated by this week’s Commerce Department report showing the nation’s gross domestic product fell for the second quarter in a row, meeting the common definition of a recession.
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Joe Biden’s approval rating is holding steady at 38 percent in the latest poll conducted by Insider Advantage for the Center for American Greatness. The national survey of 800 likely voters showed that 60 percent of respondents disapproved of Biden’s job performance, and 5 percent had no opinion or were undecided.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently responded to questions about California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ads airing in Florida, “It’s almost hard to drive people out of a place like California given all their natural advantages, and yet they are finding a way to do it.” He noted that California is hemorrhaging its population because of bad progressive economic policies so that they could be more free
Florida ranks third in the nation for economic freedom, according to the Fraser Institute. And California ranks second to last.
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Arizona Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04) last week blasted the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a revival of President Joe Biden’s (D) “Build Back Better” (BBB) economic bill, saying the contents of the bill will not accomplish what the title promotes.
“Families can’t afford gas and groceries, yet democrats want to raise taxes and spends billions more of your hard-earned money. Instead of addressing the root cause of the recession: out-of-control government spending, Joe Biden and democrats are now doubling down on their Far-Left Socialist policies that put us into this inflationary death spiral,” Gosar said.
The Biden administration’s oft-touted talking point that employment has boomed under the administration is misleading and instead simply a natural recovery from pandemic losses, economists told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Facing consecutive quarters of negative gross domestic product (GDP) growth, sky-high inflation and plummeting consumer sentiment, the Biden administration has routinely cited a low unemployment rate and strong on-paper jobs creation as positive results of President Joe Biden’s economic stewardship. But the notion that these figures represent booming job creation is misleading since the economy has merely rebounded by adding back jobs that were lost during the pandemic and has still yet to reach pre-pandemic levels, economists told the DCNF.
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The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, continued to surge in June, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
The PCE index was up 6.8% for the year ending in June, an increase from the 6.3% that it was at in both April and May, the BEA announced. PCE is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation because it is “just better at capturing the inflation people actually face in their lives,” and the central bank endeavors to keep it at 2%, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday.
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TWIL: What everybody thought constituted a recession no longer does.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.9 percent in the second quarter. This follows a 1.6 percent contraction in the first quarter.
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Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, official guest host Aaron Gulbransen welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio for another edition of Crom’s Crommentary.
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Ohio U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance blamed Rep. Tim Ryan and President Joe Biden’s policies for the current economic trend lines.
New reports show that the economy contracted 0.9 percent during the second quarter of the year, which follows an additional contraction in the first quarter.
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Pennsylvania’s four state-related universities are moving ahead with tuition increases in spite of Republican lawmakers’ exhortations that they freeze their prices.
Earlier this week, state Senator Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) sent a letter to the administrators of Temple University, Lincoln University, the University of Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania State University to urge them not to further economically burden students or their families as inflation rages. Soon thereafter, GOP leaders of the state House of Representatives sent their own message to the four schools which operate independently but rely heavily on state funding.
Read MoreTennessee’s lawmakers are ripping the Biden administration as he and other Democrats attempt to convince Americans that the country is not on the cusp of a recession, despite the expected Thursday announcement of two straight quarters of economic shrinkage.
“Instead of changing the definition of recession, why won’t the White House change their policies that may get us in a recession in the first place?” Rep. John Rose (R-TN-06) asked on Twitter, linking to a speech he gave on the floor of the U.S. House.
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Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio for another edition of Crom’s Crommentary.
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U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) denounced the Biden administration’s recent attempt to change the conversation on the economy and the potential of a recession with host Elizabeth MacDonald on Fox Business’ “The Evening Edit” on Monday.
“It’s more spin coming out of the White House, Liz. I think you look at the estimates – what’s going to happen on Thursday, we’re going to probably read a negative 1.5 percent GDP growth. That’s another straight consecutive quarter to quarter decline,” said Hagerty.
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U.S. Representative John Rose (R-TN-6) slammed the White House Council of Economic Advisors on Tuesday for “actively trying to change the definition of the word ‘recession.'”
Rose spoke from the U.S. House Floor, ahead of the expected release of economic data for the second quarter of 2022.
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In a statement made on Tuesday and obtained by The Tennessee Star, Tennessee 5th Congressional District candidate and former Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives Beth Harwell took the Biden administration to task over it’s rhetoric on a possible economic recession and “their disastrous policies.”
“The Biden Administration wants to change the definition for ‘recession’ because they’re trying to cover up their disastrous policies that have put the American economy in this position. The American people are smart enough to see what they’re doing,” said Harwell.
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by Debra Heine The White House is being accused of gaslighting the American people with “Soviet levels of propaganda” as Biden officials attempt to change the definition of recession amid economic data that shows the United States is entering into a recession. A recession is traditionally defined as two…
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Unemployment insurance continuing claims increased by 122,000 on a non-seasonally adjusted basis from July 2 to July 9 to 1.45 million, the latest U.S. Department of Labor data shows, as multiple historical recession signals are flashing red.
The number comes as initial unemployment claims have continued ticking upward on both on a seasonally adjusted basis. Since mid-March, when weekly claims hit a low of 166,000, now they are up over 251,000.
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A Goldman Sachs economist says there is a 30% probability of the U.S. entering a recession within one year and 48% within two years.
Goldman Sachs Chief U.S. economist David Mericle outlined the probability of a recession at an event Tuesday and said that the likelihood of a recession would decrease if the U.S. had not entered one within two years.
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Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed Fox Business contributor and Wall Street expert Liz Peek on the newsmaker line to discuss the lies of President Biden, the lack of business skills in the White House, and the instability of Europe.
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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. could enter into a recession when questioned Wednesday during a Senate Banking Committee hearing.
Confronted about 40-year-high inflation and the Fed raising interest rates in response, Powell said he couldn’t know for sure but said a recession, defined as a significant decline in economic activity over time, is possible.
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Recession worries are rising among economists as inflation continues at high levels.
A top Moody’s economist has predicted a recession could hit within the next two years, but others are saying it could happen sooner.
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Gov. Ron DeSantis, when suggesting President Joe Biden’s economic policies will “plunge the United States into a recession,” says Florida will be prepared.
At a news conference this week announcing funding for flood control and water management projects in Lee County, he said that while inflation continues to worsen, Florida’s economy is strong, with revenue exceeding expectations.
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A shrinking gross domestic product could cost Georgia taxpayers and is likely to hurt middle-class Georgians in particular as the country appears headed toward a recession, a non-profit policy group said this week.
“The tab is coming due for all the reckless stimulus spending during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Erik Randolph, director of research for the Georgia Center for Opportunity, said in a statement. “The declining GDP in the first quarter is the strongest indicator yet that our nation is headed into a recession.”
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The spread between 10-year treasuries and 2-year treasuries, a leading recession indicator whose inversions have predicted almost all of the U.S. economic recessions in modern history, on March 31 inverted for the first time since Sept. 2019.
When the 10-year, 2-year spread inverts, a recession tends to result on average 14 months afterward, sometimes sooner, sometimes later. The one time there was a head fake on the 10-year, 2-year was in the mid-1990s at a time when inflation was much lower Visit Site than it is now.
As an aside, potentially the Sept. 2019 inversion might have ended up being a premature indicator, too, but then Covid and global economic lockdowns in early 2020 went ahead and ensured a recession even if one was not due. On the other hand, at that point it had been 11 years since the prior recession and so the business cycle was going to end sooner or later.
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With President Joe Biden set to deliver his first State of the Union address on Tuesday night, it’s a good time to ask: How has Biden done as president and what is the actual state of our union?
According to the American people, things aren’t going great.
A CNN poll in early February asked Americans what they thought of Biden’s presidency and what he’s done right since entering office Jan. 20, 2021.
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