Business Trends

by RAYMOND J. KEATING – Is housing taking a breather after being so hot for so many months? Not really. The latest report from the U.S. Census Bureau noted that building permits for privately-owned housing units – a measure of future construction – was down by 3.0 percent (on a seasonally adjusted annual rate) in […]

by RAYMOND J. KEATING- Industrial production – i.e., the actual output of the manufacturing, mining and utility sectors of our economy – bounced back in May, according to the latest report from the Federal Reserve. After the Federal Reserve’s annual revision of the data in late May, the original gains estimated for April were pared […]

by RAYMOND J. KEATING- Retail and food services sales moved down in May, according to the latest report from the U.S. Census Bureau. After an increase of 0.9 percent in April, sales declined by 1.3 percent in May. The Distortion of Government Money It remains difficult to get a read on retail sales given the […]

by RAYMOND J. KEATING – Alignable, an online referral network for small businesses, provides regular polling on matters of importance to and about small business. And some results from the most recent survey are worth highlighting. While conditions are pointed in a far better direction than has been the case since the pandemic hit, Alignable […]

by RAYMOND J. KEATING –  The latest Small Business Pulse Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau provides an opportunity to take a look at how COVID-19’S impact on small businesses has changed over time. The small business take remains generally negative, but there have been improvements. Consider how the answers to the following question have […]

The last time that the number of unincorporated self-employment hit the 10 million mark was in August 2008 – nearly 13 years ago. by RAYMOND J. KEATING – As highlighted in the latest employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the jobs recovery continued in May. But most interesting was a major spike […]

  by RAYMOND J. KEATING – The survey information served up in the latest Federal Reserve Beige Book pointed to a slightly accelerating economy during the period from early April to late May, along with businesses continuing to wrestle with constrained inputs. “Moderate” Growth The Fed pointed to “moderate” growth, which was slightly faster than […]

by RAYMOND J. KEATING – Given the impact of the pandemic and assistance that has been shoveled out the government’s doors to individuals, it’s been hard to take away anything of substance from monthly personal income reports. Big Fluctuations For example, in the latest report for April, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reports […]

by RAYMOND J. KEATING – The second estimate of first quarter GDP from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis saw no change in the reported topline growth rate – real GDP grew at 6.4 percent (seasonally adjusted annualized). But the report did offer changes to internals that are worth noting. First, the good news. Two […]

by RAYMOND J. KEATING- The latest durable goods report from the U.S. Census Bureau served up a mixed story for manufacturing in April. The troubling aspect of this report is that durable goods new orders declined by 1.3 percent in April 2021. That was the first decline since April 2020, when we were in the […]