Strategy in TECH...
The U.S. economy showed great positive momentum in 2021 with the gross domestic product (GDP) growing at a record pace, recouping much of the drop in GDP in 2020. In fact, a new report from Axios shows that the current GDP growth trend is now within just 1% of the pre-pandemic trend.
New residential sales data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development show a sharp rise in the sale of newly constructed homes for the month of December. This is the second month in a row when sales of new homes rose as compared to the sales the previous month and are at the highest rate of sales since March – a nine-month high.
In a new report on residential housing construction by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, overall housing starts in the month of November snapped a three-month slide and took their biggest jump since March of this year. Both the overall construction starts and those for single-family dwellings had their best month in the last eight months. This was a surprise…
While there’s no question that the economy continues to expand, certain indicators are sending chills down economists’ spines – and the latest Consumer Confidence Index is one of those indicators. According to the latest data from The Conference Board (TCB), the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) declined in November in a sign that consumers’ attitudes about the economy are turning cold.
In spite of the fact that the economy is continuing to grow as it powers away from the days of COVID shutdowns, a preliminary November reading of consumer sentiment shows a dramatic drop to a 10-year low, as consumers fret about growing inflation. While economists have long warned that transitory inflation would be a temporary part of our overall economic recovery, consumers are clearly concerned that this inflation may be hanging around for a while and it is already crimping their lifestyle.
In a survey by the National Association of Business Economists, a strong majority of all businesses – fully 58% – reported that they raised the wages they paid to employees in the third quarter, as reported by AXIOS. Nearly the same number say they will raise wages yet again in the coming months. While the news has some positive elements, especially for workers (like the smiling employees above), it definitely has some economists worried.
In new data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, residential housing construction starts dropped 1.6% in September as compared to the previous month’s reading. This rate is the lowest level of housing starts in five months. Also concerning, building permits – a leading indicator of future construction – registered a sharp drop, down 7.7% below the previous month.
In 2020, the year of COVID-19, there was much death and devastation in the U.S. and around the world. But one business segment soared during the pandemic as a result of local municipalities and states around the country putting their citizens into 24/7 lockdown at home – and that business was eCommerce. With in-person retail stores closed by local government orders, consumers had no option but to shop online to obtain the things they needed.
So what do experts expect will happen to the growth rate for eCommerce in 2021, now that all states have removed most or all of their restrictions and in-person retail stores are all open for business? You might be surprised…
Did you hear this statistic? Just this past April, a total of 4 million Americans quit their jobs, according to data recently released by the US Labor Department and reported on by the New York Times. Think about that for a moment. That April figure was the largest number of workers quitting their jobs in any one month…ever. Why? Ah…that’s a good question. I’m glad you asked…
Not long ago, I weighed in on whether I believed that the U.S. economy would “bounce back” after the impact of COVID-19 began to taper off. A vigorous debate had erupted at the time, with multiple market observers offering their opinions as to whether there would be a v-shaped, w-shaped, u-shaped (or another character) recovery. We all wanted a v-shaped recovery, which would mean that the economy would essentially snap back instantly to where it was before the pandemic.
I did not expect a v-shaped recovery because it seemed to me that reopening the economy would be less coordinated than when the entire country basically shut down at the beginning of the pandemic. The latest government data on U.S. job growth shows this to be the case.
