The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) published its final estimate of the third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP). In the July-to-October period, the U.S. economy grew 4.9 percent, down from the second estimate of 5.2 percent, and matching the advance estimate. What makes the BEA data interesting is that personal consumption was revised lower, contributing 2.11 […]
Money
China continues dumping U.S. debt, new Treasury data show
China is still reducing its holdings of U.S. government debt. According to new data from the Treasury Department, China trimmed its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities by $8.6 billion, totaling $769.6 billion. In total, foreign holdings fell by about $16 billion to $7.565 trillion. Here is a breakdown of what happened in October:
Department of Education: Only 60% of student loan borrowers have made payments
Well, this is not good. According to new data from the Department of Education, only 60 percent of borrowers made a payment by the middle of November after the pandemic-era pause was ended, and 22 million people were required to care for their responsibilities. In a blog post, the Education Department blamed it on former […]
U.S. government posts $314 billion budget deficit in November
Well, it did not take long for the U.S. government to record a massive budget shortfall in the fiscal year 2024. In November, Washington posted a larger-than-expected $314 billion budget deficit, led by a 17 percent increase in spending. In the first two months of FY 2024, the federal deficit is $381 billion. Here is […]
U.S. inflation expectations continue to slow heading into 2024
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) released the results of its November Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE). U.S. households expect inflation to continue easing heading into 2024, with one-year-ahead expectations coming in at 3.4 percent. It was a boring read as much of the data was unchanged from the previous month. That said, […]