The U.S. labor market is showing signs of cooling off after the July numbers were the second weakest of the President Joe Biden era. Before we get into the nitty-gritty, here are the basic numbers from the July non-farm payroll report: The U.S. economy added 187,000 new jobs in July, falling short of economists’ expectations […]
Got stagnation? Services sector slows, price pressures tick up
Goodbye, recession forecasts. Hello, stagnation? This is the word on Wall Street today after the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) slowed to 52.7 in July, down from 53.9 and below the consensus estimate of 53. One notable component of the monthly print is that services employment plummeted to 50.7, down […]
Janet Yellen blames Fitch’s ‘flawed assessment’ for U.S. credit downgrade
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is angry. You don’t like her when she’s angry. After Fitch Ratings downgraded the U.S. long-term foreign-currency issuer from AAA to AA+, the White House was furious, saying that it “defies reality.” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen continued the outrage. Speaking at an Internal Revenue Service contractor office near Washington, Yellen called […]
‘Fiscal Deterioration’: Fitch downgrades U.S. long-term rating as debt troubles mount
Fitch Ratings slashes the U.S. long-term foreign currency issuer default rating from AAA to AA+. Ouch. The last time this happened was in 2011. Fitch alluded to “expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years,” soaring debt, and erosion of governance. “The repeated debt-limit political standoffs and last-minute resolutions have eroded confidence in fiscal management,” […]
Bidenomics: Manufacturing recession continues, U.S. labor market slows
It was not exactly a great day for the U.S. economy. Let’s break it down on Tuesday. The S&P Global Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for July came in at 49, up from 46.3 in June and matched the consensus estimate. The problem? This was the eighth month of contraction out of nine. The Institute […]