Business Trends

by Raymond J. Keating- Entrepreneurs are a positive, resilient bunch, and that was made clear, once again, in the latest Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index survey. Gallup reported that “the overall index is at +142, up from +136 in July and +129 in April. The index is a measure of owners’ present and future optimism […]

by Raymond J. Keating- The September 2019 “Job Openings” report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics pointed to a continued recent decline in job openings. As noted by the BLS: “On the last business day of September, the job openings level edged down to 7.0 million (-277,000). The job openings rate was 4.4 percent. […]

by Raymond J. Keating- Small Business Policy Index 2019: Texas ranked the very best – #1 – among the 50 states. SBE Council’s “Small Business Policy Index 2019” ranks the 50 states according to 62 different policy measures, including a wide array of tax, regulatory and government spending and performance measurements. Small Business Tax Index […]

by Raymond J. Keating- Small Business Policy Index 2019: Kentucky ranked 30th among the 50 states. SBE Council’s “Small Business Policy Index 2019” ranks the 50 states according to 62 different policy measures, including a wide array of tax, regulatory and government spending and performance measurements. Small Business Tax Index 2019: Kentucky ranked 26th among […]

by Raymond J. Keating- The October jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, once you get beyond the headlines to the more substantive numbers, turned out to be pretty solid. The headlines were underwhelming, with payroll gains of 128,000 for October, and increases coming in below 200,000 in seven of the last nine […]

by Raymond J. Keating- The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) released its latest statement on the economy and monetary policy on October 30th. And my initial reaction was: Yawn. The Fed announced that it would cut the federal funds by a quarter point, from a range of 1.75 percent to 2 percent, to 1.5 percent […]

by Raymond J. Keating- The U.S. Census Bureau’s September durable goods report indicates that business investment continued to perform poorly in September and throughout the third quarter. Keep in mind that overall private investment declined in the second quarter of this year. That included declining fixed nonresidential (business) investment. And equipment investment declined in the […]

by Raymond J. Keating- Small Business Policy Index 2019 New York ranked 47th – or the fourth worst – among the 50 states. Florida ranked 3rd – or third best – among the 50 states. SBE Council’s “Small Business Policy Index 2019” ranks the 50 states according to 62 different policy measures, including a wide […]

by Raymond J. Keating- Small Business Policy Index 2019: Idaho ranked 26th among the 50 states.  SBE Council’s “Small Business Policy Index 2019” ranks the 50 states according to 62 different policy measures, including a wide array of tax, regulatory and government spending and performance measurements.  Small Business Tax Index 2019: Idaho ranked 34th among […]

by Raymond J. Keating- The latest industrial production report from the Federal Reserve was negative pretty much across the board. After welcome growth in August, industrial production (i.e., the real output of the manufacturing, mining, and electric and gas utilities) declined by 0.4 percent in September. That included a 0.5 percent decline in manufacturing production, […]