Business Trends

by Raymond J. Keating- Strength in the U.S. industrial sector continued in September, according to the latest report on industrial production from the Federal Reserve. Total industrial production – i.e., the output of the nation’s industrial sectors, i.e., manufacturing, mining and utilities – grew by 0.3 percent in September. And keep in mind that the […]

Small Business Insider: The Economy by Raymond J. Keating- On October 11, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that real average hourly earnings on private nonfarm payrolls grew solidly by 0.3 percent in September versus August. In addition, real average hourly earnings have increased in six of the last seven months. That’s welcome growth. Of […]

by Raymond J. Keating- Free and growing international trade is good news for American consumers, small businesses and workers – expanding opportunity, choices, competition and growth. Imposing barriers to trade, such as tariffs and quotas, achieve the exact opposite, including increasing costs and reducing opportunity. While there are seemingly countless examples of the benefits of […]

  by Raymond J. Keating- Small Business Policy Index 2018: SBE Council’s “Small Business Policy Index 2018” ranks the 50 states according to 55 different policy measures, including a wide array of tax, regulatory and government spending and performance measurements. Small Business Tax Index 2017: SBE Council’s “Small Business Tax Index 2017” ranks the states […]

Small Business Insider   by Raymond J. Keating- Good news on the inflation front came via the Bureau of Labor Statistics latest report on the Consumer Price Index. Specifically, CPI inflation ran at a mere 0.1 percent in September. In fact, from February to September, inflation has been very tame. And if we look over […]

by Raymond J. Keating- America is the land of opportunity and the land of entrepreneurship. A significant part of this story of opportunity and entrepreneurship is about the entrepreneur who works alone to make a living, build a business, strive and hopefully thrive. Government data offers a glimpse at certain aspects of being a nonemployer […]

by Raymond J. Keating- With the latest month’s employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there’s the continuing problem of looking at the two topline numbers and ignoring the fact that those two pieces of data come from completely different sources. And those two sources can often tell different stories on jobs. Consider, […]

Measures from the Institute for Supply Management Show Continued Economic Growth by Raymond J. Keating- Good economic news came from the Institute for Supply Management’s reports this week. First, the ISM manufacturing Index came in at 59.8 percent for September. Now, that was down from 61.3 percent in August. However, it needs to be pointed […]

by Raymond J. Keating- There is very good news on the economic front, and hopefully more good news to come. But none of the current period of growth has anything to do with the policies of President Barack Obama, who tried to grab some credit earlier this month. In a recent speech, Obama said, “So […]

  by Raymond J. Keating- The Federal Reserve served up its latest statement on monetary policy and the economy on September 26. The main gist: the current economy is strong, and the Fed is further inching up short-term interest rates, i.e., the federal funds rate. Specifically, the Fed moved the feds funds rate up by […]