Fact of the Week

by Raymond J. Keating- Most industries have suffered by the coronavirus pandemic and related shutdown, but all things related to travel have been hit particularly hard. That most certainly includes hotels and motels. A recent report from CNBC noted the average daily rate and revenue per available room took big dives in March, on a […]

by Raymond J. Keating- As was the case with last week’s report on manufacturing from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), the non-manufacturing ISM index tanked in April. The services sector declined in April, with the non-manufacturing PMI falling to 41.8 percent – the lowest level since March 2009 during the Great Recession – and […]

by Raymond J. Keating- According to the Federal Open Market Committee statement released on Wednesday (April 29) afternoon, the Fed unsurprisingly left the federal funds rate at 0%-0.25%. And it was noted, “The Committee expects to maintain this target range until it is confident that the economy has weathered recent events and is on track […]

by Raymond J. Keating- The U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday, April 30, reported that initial unemployment claims registered 3.839 million for the week ending April 25. That was down by 603,000 compared to the previous week’s level. But at the same point last year, initial weekly jobless claims came in at 230,000. Given […]

by Raymond J. Keating- The March durable goods new orders report from the U.S. Census Bureau was, as expected, not pretty. The topline number pointed to durable goods orders diving by 14.4 percent in November. Excluding two months in 2014 when we experienced a big one month jump followed by a big one month fall, […]

  by Raymond J. Keating- The latest edition of the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book provides additional information regarding the grim story that is the current U.S. coronavirus economy. Of course, big questions stand out regarding the economy. How long will this last? And what about the subsequent recovery? There are no neat-and-tidy answers – except […]

Largest Drop in Industrial Production Since the Immediate Aftermath of World War II   by Raymond J. Keating- More ugly data are rolling in regarding the grim state of the U.S. economy. Indeed, these numbers should remove any lingering doubts that a recession began during the first quarter of this year, given that we’re effectively […]

by Raymond J. Keating- Kicking around so-called “Big Pharma” and calling for price controls had been all the rage in political and media circles for years. But the message largely has shifted in recent weeks, during the coronavirus outbreak, to rooting on and even praising the companies that make medicines and vaccines. Thankfully, the U.S. […]

by Raymond J. Keating- The decline of 710,000 in nonfarm employment, as noted by the establishment survey in the Bureau of Labor Statistics “Employment Situation” report, was bad enough, but when you crawl just a bit further inside the report, the jobs picture for March grows even grimmer. In the early reporting on this report, […]

by Raymond J. Keating- In order to limit the coronavirus, government effectively has shut down significant chunks of the U.S. economy. And as the economic effects and assorted policies are discussed and debated, it pays to keep in mind that the U.S. very much is a small business economy. The latest data on the number […]