July 7, 2020 In a very strange year, the jobs report takes on more importance because we are in uncharted territory with regard to the economy. We moved from a slow-growth economy in the fourth quarter to a negative 5.0% in the first quarter of this year and what looks to be sharply worse when […]
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June 30, 2020 Most economies have reopened to some degree. And several states have seen a surge in infections at the same time. From this, we can conclude one thing — the virus is not taking the summer off as some had speculated might happen. On the other hand, can we say that the reopenings […]
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June 23, 2020 Last month’s jobs report was certainly a surprise and another example of predictions gone awry. The economy was supposed to lose millions of jobs and instead gained millions of jobs. That is quite a swing, especially considering the fact that we usually are dealing with employment swings in the thousands, instead of […]
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June 9, 2020 This was the title of one of our economic commentaries in January of this year. It is a message we deliver every year. Now that we have traveled almost one-half the way through the year, we thought we would like to bring this message back, because this year it applies more than […]
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The current economic environment presents the government with very tough choices. If we open up our economy too quickly, the medical experts tell us that we risk reversing the progress we have seen in fighting the pandemic. That would be a tragedy. On the other hand, if we don’t open up the economy, there will […]
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April 28, 2020 While our government officials are talking about re-opening at least parts of our economy, we are all wondering what that will actually mean. There is no doubt that we cannot flip a light switch and then get people to rush out and start partying in the streets. Not only could we not […]
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April 21, 2020 For those attempting to predict the length or the depth of the current economic slowdown, we have all turned into medical prognosticators. Every day charts depicting the growth of the virus are published. The growth started slowly and then accelerated with lines showing the number shooting straight into the air. But as […]
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April 14, 2020 As dismal as the March unemployment numbers were, we know that this is just a preview of what is to come. The question being bantered about by market analysts is — how high will unemployment become? Let’s take a look at the numbers. Let’s say 10+ million filed for unemployment in the […]
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March 31, 2020 Each passing week, the measures which are implemented to slow the spread of the coronavirus are placing strains on the American and world-wide economy. It is no longer the travel industry which is in the forefront. Now all industries are being hit — from retail to service industries. Those who are selling […]
Read MoreMarch 24, 2020 Believe it or not, we started the year quite smoothly. Yes, we were expecting some excitement due to the fact that we had a Presidential election coming our way. Little did we know that the primaries would take a back-seat to something much larger. It took just a few weeks to go […]
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