We’ve just begun coming to grips with the Wimpy Recovery. Are we actually in for another recession? That was the implication of a couple of economic reports I read this week, including one by ITG Investment Research, which tracked how the pace of this recovery (which was never great to begin with) has by some measures been slowing, most particularly among middle income consumers and industries producing for overseas markets.
We’ve been getting pretty good economic news for the past couple of months – unemployment claims are trending lower; nonfarm jobs are creeping up; consumer confidence is rising as stock prices climb. So, of course, for the past couple of days U.S. government bonds have been getting crushed because bonds hate good news. This is how the [...]
Just when we were expecting the economy to go boom it went zoom
The vibe on Wall Street couldn’t be more at odds with deflated Main Street. Yes, stock prices headed down after today’s disappointing jobs report, which showed unemployment rising to 9.1%. But for anyone who hasn’t noticed, big corporations are still making a killing. What gives? It was only last week that a slew of companies [...]
The job interview has always been a crucial part of the hiring process. But in today’s intensely competitive labor market, it couldn’t be more key. For every open position, expect to find an army of qualified, and even overqualified, candidates starving for work in a country with 9% unemployment. If you’re lucky enough to make [...]
There have been a lot of people blabbing on for the past few months about the new found thriftiness of the American consumer. The savings rate is up, and credit card balances are down. Well it appears, that that later piece of news does not fit as neatly into the thriftier American thesis as it [...]
For a while now, chatter has been growing that the economy is headed for a double-dip recession. That’s the type where you think you have recovered, but in fact you are only on the first bump of the roller coaster. But this morning’s jobs numbers seem to suggest the possibility of a double dip is [...]
