Tag Archives: Jerome Powell

US December Unemployment at Record Low of 3.5%

Nevertheless, the Federal Reserve seems determined to send the US economy into a deep recession. The Fed has done this in the past with reckless interest rate increases from an ideology that thinks it is good when people lose jobs to keep demand and inflation down. However, consider that during December, average hourly earnings for all employees on private non-farm payrolls rose by 9 cents, or a mere 0.3%, to $32.82. During the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 4.6%. In December, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and non-supervisory employees rose by 6 cents, or 0.2%, to $28.07. AutoInformed doesn’t consider the latest data as cause for inflationary worries, let alone more interest rate increases. (Autoinformed.com: Federal Reserve Chair Powell Says Inflation Remains Too High) Continue reading

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Federal Reserve Chair Powell Says Inflation Remains Too High

The remarks today are important to the US auto industry since it is responsible for a total of 10.3 million American jobs, or about 8% of private-sector employment as well as $650 billion in direct, indirect, and induced paychecks, according to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation*. More than $272 billion annually is contributed in the form of federal, state, and local tax revenues. This includes more than $70 billion in income taxes and $10 billion in corporate profit taxes.

Auto companies in our view need to demonstrate a degree of flexibility and speed of analysis and reaction that – much like the Covid Pandemic and Putin’s war against Ukraine – were not part of the usual operating procedures. Continue reading

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Grim Survey – a Nation of Broke and Broken Shopkeepers?

Mnuchin is likely trying to stop President elect Biden’s next Treasury secretary extending relief to state and local governments.

The Federal Reserve – in what AutoInformed says is the latest example of the ugly, vindictive politics of the defeat at the ballot box of the impeached and lame-duck Trump – responded with a statement claiming it “would prefer that the full suite of emergency facilities established during the corona-virus pandemic continue to serve their important role as a backstop for our still-strained and vulnerable economy.” Fed Chair Jerome Powell earlier in the week said there was a need for the programs to continue.  Continue reading

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Fed – May Retail Sales Far Below Earlier Levels

The extent of the downturn and the pace of recovery remain extraordinarily uncertain and will depend in large part on our success in containing the virus. We all want to get back to normal, but a full recovery is unlikely to occur until people are confident that it is safe to reengage in a broad range of activities,” Powell warned today after a meeting of the board of governors. Continue reading

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