U.S. consumer confidence rebounds sharply in July
The bounce back from last month’s drop was much stronger than economists expected.
The bounce back from last month’s drop was much stronger than economists expected.
Measures of consumer confidence remain historically high and June’s retail sales figures suggest that consumer spending, which drives two-thirds of the economy, remains strong.
The Commerce Department said Friday that incomes rose 0.5% in May and inflation remained tame, increasing just 1.5% in the past year.
The U.S. economy grew at a healthy 3.1% rate in the first three months of this year, but signs are mounting that growth has slowed sharply in the current quarter.
The latest retail report suggests that American consumers are still spending at a healthy pace, even as the stimulus from tax cuts fades.
The proposed 17% increase would bring the premiums paid by companies to a level recommended by the federal government, which is meant to prepare the unemployment fund for the next recession.
The tepid job growth, along with rising pressures on the economy, makes it more likely that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in the coming months.
The U.S. economy grew at a solid rate in the first three months of the year, but much of that gain was based on temporary factors that likely will fade, leaving growth much slower in the current quarter.
American consumers felt more confident this month, shrugging off a rocky stock market and heightened trade tensions between the United States and China.
Friday's jobs report from the Labor Department showed that solid economic growth is still encouraging strong hiring nearly a decade into the economy's recovery from the Great Recession.
With the strong gain in the first quarter, productivity over the past year has grown by 2.4%, the best four-quarter gain since a 2.7% rise in 2010.
The March gain was a marked improvement after three months of lackluster readings in the key segment of the economy.
The advance in the gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic health, marked the strongest first quarter growth rate since 2015.
The Labor Department on Thursday said claims for jobless aid fell by 5,000 last week, to 192,000, lowest since September 1969.
The Central Indiana Community Foundation’s new five-year plan focuses on making Indianapolis a more inclusive city, a goal it hopes to achieve partly by training 5,000 community leaders and residents about institutional racism.
The employment figures reported Friday by the government suggest that February’s anemic job growth figure was merely a temporary blip and that businesses are confident the economy remains on a firm footing.
Applications are a proxy for layoffs, so the drop to such a low number indicates that companies are cutting very few workers.
The spending figures, which reflected weaker sales of new autos, signal first-quarter growth faces additional headwinds, though surveys show consumers remain generally upbeat.
Consumer spending, business investment, government spending and housing all came in lower than first thought.
The president’s comments dim hopes that round-the-clock trade negotiations between the world’s two biggest economies could lead to them removing the roughly $360 billion in tariffs they’ve imposed on each other’s imports.