As virus rages, U.S. economy improves but struggles to sustain recovery
The U.S. economy has a long way to go before regaining the strong health it enjoyed before the coronavirus paralyzed the country in March.
Economy
Articles
U.S. consumer prices rose 0.6% in July, matching June uptick
The uptick was about twice what economists expected. But inflation remains in check: Consumer prices are up just 1% over the past year.
Congress deeply unpopular again as gridlock on coronavirus relief has real-life consequences
Over the past two months, congressional approval ratings have crashed downward, after a sudden previous bump in approval. Fewer than 1 in 5 voters say they like what lawmakers are doing on Capitol Hill, according to the Gallup Poll.
U.S. expected to report record-breaking economic plunge
A huge plunge in consumer spending as people stayed home in the April-June quarter likely sent the economy into a tailspin at a roughly 32% annual rate
Spiking cost of gasoline pushed June consumer prices up 0.6%
Some economists said the June rise in prices would ease concerns that the country could be in danger of slipping into a destabilizing period of deflation, something not seen in the United States since the Great Depression.
IBJ Podcast: When will office workers return to downtown Indy?
IBJ reporters Samm Quinn and Anthony Schoettle spent a week talking with the leaders of downtown companies and learned that many are delaying plans to bring workers back to the office.
Search the PPP list: Indiana colleges, not-for-profits, small and big firms receive loans
In Indiana, more than 90% of federal loans topping $150,000 went to companies, according to the Treasury Department data. About 6% of the loans went to not-for-profit organizations.
The big factor holding back the U.S. economic recovery: Child care
The child-care crunch triggered by the pandemic has rapidly become a crisis for many workers and companies that is hindering the economic recovery, disproportionately harming women, and threatening to leave deep scars for years to come.
African Americans point to racial biases in economics
The field of economics is facing an upheaval, with African American scholars decrying bias in the profession and presenting evidence that leading journals have failed to publish sufficient research that documents racial inequalities.
U.S. wholesale prices increase 0.4%, led by food, energy costs
Food costs have been rising due to high demand from Americans cooking more at home, but also because of lost production following virus outbreaks at food-processing facilities.
J.C. Penney to close 154 stores, including two in central Indiana
In all, the department store chain—which filed for bankruptcy protection last month—is closing nine locations in Indiana.
Beyond COVID podcast: Use a ‘crisis journal’ to track key decisions
Netlogx has been working to help clients navigate the difficulties of the pandemic. And one of its key pieces of advice to business leaders is to keep a crisis journal. And to do it every day because the situation and information has been changing so quickly.
Holcomb preparing to tweak reopening plan; details to come Wednesday
Stage 3 of the governor’s roadmap, scheduled to start Sunday, is set to increase the social gathering limit from 25 people to 100, allow retailers to go from operating at 50% capacity to 75% capacity, let fitness centers reopen and allow movie theaters to open at 50% capacity.
Risk of reopening U.S. economy too fast: A W-shaped recovery
Now, as President Donald Trump and many Republicans press to reopen the economy, some experts see an ominous risk: That a too-hasty relaxation of social distancing could ignite a resurgence of COVID-19 cases by fall, sending the economy back into lockdown.
IBJ’s Beyond COVID podcast: The magic of a one-page business plan
Leadership coach Craig P. Anderson says that a concise, straightforward business plan is the key to success—not just in normal times, but especially now, when the economy has been thrown for a loop.
Pay cuts, layoffs hit white-collar workers, too
Experts say the wave of layoffs and pay cuts that first ravaged the service industry in mid-March are starting to erode management, upper-level and even executive jobs.
Companies must create customer, employee safety plans as part of reopening
The state is launching a marketplace for small businesses to help them acquire the face masks, sanitizer and other supplies they might need to reopen.
Small business survey finds majority of companies want to open now
A survey of about 350 members of the National Federation of Independent Businesses found 59% want state and local governments to lift stay-at-home orders immediately and let companies reopen.
Economists: Quick rebound from recession is unlikely
Among the concerns is that people—employees and consumers alike—will remain too wary of contracting the coronavirus to return to anything resembling normal economic behavior.
U.S. economy shrank at 4.8% rate last quarter as virus struck
It was the sharpest fall since the economy shrank at an 8.4% annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2008 in the depths of the Great Recession.