The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is the organization that essentially confirms if the United States is in a recession. It refrained from doing so last year when the U.S. experienced a technical recession — back-to-back quarters of negative economic growth — because the labor market was so strong. But when the GDP hits […]
Money
First Republic becomes the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history
First Republic has fallen. We repeat. First Republic has fallen! It officially happened. Federal regulators seized First Republic, making it the second-largest U.S. bank failure in the nation’s history. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) averted a banking crisis by taking its portfolio ($103.9 billion in deposits and $229.1 billion in assets) and selling it […]
Ouch: US economy weakens in first quarter, continues slowdown trend
The U.S. economy weakened in the first quarter, continuing its slowdown trend. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the first-quarter GDP growth rate was just 1.1 percent, down from 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter. This also came in below economists’ expectations of two percent. But the real surprise was the acceleration in […]
Atlanta Fed Bank GDPNow Q1 model estimate downgraded to 1.1%
One day before the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) releases the first-quarter GDP growth rate, a regional central bank downgraded its forecast for Q1. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s widely watched GDPNow model estimate was lowered to 1.1 percent in the first quarter. Just a few days ago, it had been as high as […]
Argentina ditches U.S. dollar, will pay for Chinese imports in yuan
The de-dollarization push continues. Argentina announced on Wednesday that it will begin to pay for Chinese imports in yuan instead of dollars. In response to the nation’s declining dollar reserves, Argentina will aim to pay approximately $1 billion of Chinese goods in yuan this month and then another $790 million a month in yuan moving […]