Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyPMI Backs Down a Bit The latest data from the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) slowed a little from the previous record-setting month. It was nearly inevitable this would be the case as there had been some factors driving last month's numbers that were clearly ephemeral. The threat of tariffs and trade wars convi...

The holiday shopping season is approaching quickly as shoppers will soon begin flocking to department stores and small businesses in the coming months. A busy shopping season calls for more retail hiring; however, CNBC reports not all retailers will successfully fill their vacant positions. Demands for higher wages lure some employees away from low...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyCore Inflation Remains Near Fed Target For the last few years, the Fed has been trying to coax the inflation rate up to around 2%. This has traditionally been seen as the preferred level for inflation measured as core. It is high enough to avoid the stagnation of deflation and not high enough to justify Fed inter...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyTechnology at Heart of Trade Dispute With China There are many trade issues that separate the U.S. from China, but one festering away for many years is the tendency on the part of the Chinese to steal technology from U.S. companies in any way they can. Sometimes, this is espionage and outright subterfuge. In othe...

As predicted, the Federal Reserve followed through with its plan to hike interest rates on Sept. 26, increasing rates by a quarter point, while anticipating economic growth for the remainder of 2018 and into next year. The hike was of no surprised to anyone, said NACM Economist Chris Kuehl, Ph.D., who said the latest hike marks the eighth increase ...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyFed Raises Rates Today For the eighth time since 2015, the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates. Absolutely nobody will be the least surprised. This has been a rate hike trumpeted and planned for all year. It will mean there will be far more interest in the press conference that follows the decision than ther...

Only a few weeks remain until Pennsylvania's Contractor and Subcontractor Payment Act (CASPA) changes, shaking up the future of timeliness for construction payments. The new act will affect construction contracts entered into, on or after Oct. 10, 2018.In Pennsylvania, CASPA affects downstream payments on private construction projects. The amendmen...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyReplacing China One of the more immediate questions is whether the U.S. can replace what it buys from China. The deficit the U.S. runs with China is due almost entirely to the voracious demand for consumer goods manufactured in China. Other nations tend to sell the U.S. commodities and raw materials, but China fi...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyWhat Is Magic About 2%? It has long been a truism that central banks sought to maintain an inflation rate of 2%. It was the Goldilocks number in that it was considered "just right"—not high enough to signal real inflation that threatens to get out of hand and not low enough that it creates concerns about deflatio...

Tackling trade talks remains difficult for the U.S. and China as more of President Donald Trump's tariffs go into effect today, placing a 10% tax on $200 billion of Chinese products such as furniture and appliances. According to CNBC, the tariff is expected to increase to 25% by the end of the year. This latest imposition was met with retaliation b...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyJobless Claims Fall Again The rate of new jobless claims has fallen to a low not seen since 1969. This is an indication of a very tight job market and an indication that most companies have engaged in the kind of "right sizing" over the last few years. They have the staff they need and don't yet see the need to c...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyThe End of the Automotive Run? For the past couple of years, there has been a consistent assertion that the end of the automobile bull market was nigh. The consumer would surely stop buying these vehicles as the headwinds became more intense. This prediction has been proven inaccurate several times now. The lates...

Risk assessment is part of the daily grind for any business, so when the U.S. stirred up trade controversies with other countries, economists saw American businesses' concerns rise. While many believed the trade war was among these worries, a new CNBC survey suggests there are worse fears in the business community, specifically consumer demand.On S...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyWhere Has Populism Come From This is a subject that will warrant a lot more investigation and consideration, but for now we will just broach the subject. It has been assumed that the lurch towards populism and nationalism that has figured in the U.S. and Europe has its roots in the financial crisis of the last de...

Natural disasters take a physical toll on impacted communities, the most recent example being the severe flooding from Hurricane Florence in North Carolina. With destruction and devastation comes economic hardship, but according to Moody's Analytics, Hurricane Florence is expected to have a minimal impact on the U.S. economy. The latest hurricane h...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomySo Much for the Negotiations In theory, the talks had started back up and there had been murmurs from both Washington and Beijing that something might develop to end the trade war. Now, there is the latest onslaught of tweeted threats and vows to extend the tariff attack against China and the swift response from ...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyAugust Labor Report Highlights The August labor report was released Sept. 14. Some of you have seen the headlines showing 201,000 jobs created in the month and a rise in wages by 2.9%—which is strong. Those were the highlights, but there's a lot of additional detail to look through.The highlight was likely the wa...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyAngst Setting In Thus far, the U.S. is not quite as bad as the Germans when it comes to questioning a good run. Germans remain the king of angst as they seem devoted to looking for the potential downside of every situation. The U.S. economy is doing pretty well according to the latest data from the Fed's Beige Bo...

As the East Coast prepares for Hurricane Florence to make landfall late Thursday or early Friday, the construction industry is already seeing the storm's costly effects through lumber prices. According to Prosales magazine, the impending hurricane and any that follow are expected to bring a 10% lumber price hike that may last roughly two months.On ...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyBetter News for Households The latest census data shows that median household income rose by 1.8% this past year. That brings the total to $61,372. At the same time, the rate of poverty in the U.S. fell by 0.4%. This income level is a record high and is due in large part to the fact that jobless totals are so low...