Strategy in TECH...
As the economy continues to show more signs of a slowdown, we can’t help but notice increasing volatility in the month-to-month readings of various statistics. The latest government data on housing construction starts is a great example of this. After a big jump in August, starts dropped in September by 9.4% – a larger than normal amount – from the revised rate in August.
In a new report by the U.S. Commerce Department released Wednesday, U.S. retail sales in September have broadly dropped for the first time in seven months. The report is seen by many economists as another significant sign of a cooling economy.
Much like any trade show, CEDIA Expo 2019 was full of optimism and good cheer. But with just a few questions to top executives of major exhibitors it is fairly easy to pierce that veil of good cheer to reveal underlying concerns of approaching economic storm clouds. I chatted with Frank Sterns, Sony’s Vice President of AV Specialty/Custom Integration, about the turbulent waters our industry is sailing through and how Sony is faring in the face of these increasing headwinds.
The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) is pulling no punches when it comes to the latest revised tariff schedule being implemented by the Trump administration. The recently revised tariff schedule, which started a new round of tariffs just days ago on September 1st, with a second round scheduled to hit on December 15th means pain and uncertainty moving forward according to the CTA.
In the choppy waters of today’s current economy, we continue to get mixed signals – this time from the housing market. Last week, we learned that residential construction starts declined in June by 0.9% below the rate in May. This week, we find that sales of newly built homes in June increased by 7% as compared to sales in May.
With most economists on pins and needles over the recent number of economic data points that seem to suggest an impending economic slowdown, word came at the end of the last week that the latest jobs report from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics saw employment take a big jump. According to this latest data, employers added a significant 224,000 jobs in June, a big increase from May’s anemic results.
Although the US is in the midst of a record period of economic expansion, more and more troubling signs have appeared over the last few months in the form of negative economic data points to suggest that a turn in the economy may be coming. This week, a trio of new reports – consumer confidence, sales of newly constructed homes, and corporate earnings revisions – suggest that economic growth is stalling and that “turn” may be here.
In the latest data from the US Department of Commerce, residential construction showed a decline for the month of May in both overall and in single-family starts. Viewed by many as another sign of an economic slowdown, housing is a major component of the overall US gross national product.
The US Department of Labor reported this morning that non-farm jobs grew by 75,000 in May. According to a Wall Street Journal survey of economists, the May jobs number was expected to come in at 180,000 – so this is a large and surprising miss.
[Read more…] about BREAKING NEWS – Gov’t Data Shows Significant Reduction in Job Growth
On Wednesday, the country’s largest payroll processor, ADP, announced that private-sector employers hired 27,000 people in May. This number was a dramatic reversal from their report on April hiring, which said employers added a remarkable 271,000 people. Many economists and market analysts expressed shock at the surprisingly low number.
