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Housing, Jobs Send Mixed Signals on the Economic Outlook
Despite the recent surge in the stock market, mixed signals continue to dominate the economic outlook. Housing, that big engine for all-important consumer spending, is looking a bit brighter,...
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BusinessWeek/YouGov Optimism Index Up With The Temperature
It’s Friday. That’s the first reason for optimism. The second is BusinessWeek/YouGov’s Optimism Index is up two points to 47% this week. Our Dow Jones industrial average showed it’s not afraid to...
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Silver Lining in the Latest Jobless Numbers
Harry S Truman famously cried out for a one-handed economist, complaining that his financial soothsayers would constantly say “on the one hand … but on the other.” With her July 30 analysis of the...
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Coffee Stocks See Cartoonish Gains as Market Rises
There’s a common phrase these days in media circles: “Even is the new up.” In other words, as businesses pull ads like Bugs Bunny pulls stunts, companies are okay with flat revenue. So it goes with...
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America's Economic Recovery: The Main Event in BW's Debate Room
It’s likely we’ll debate the end date of the recession until America’s downturn has come and gone. The official designation – “recession” – is a lagging indicator anyway, declared by the Cambridge...
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Recession Ending, Canadian Economist Says
Adding to the growing consensus that the recession is ending, economists at the Bank of Montreal’s capital markets unit are suggesting that the slump will hit bottom this quarter. But they, like so...
View ArticleWhole Foods and New York Investment Firms Smile
This is the first week I've felt truly optimistic about the American economy. I generally am optimistic, but it's a general je ne sais quoi that is nothing to write about. The U.S. economy, however,...
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A Mosaic of Optimistic Economic Indicators
Let’s start from the top and move down. Nonfarm payroll fell 247,000 last month – the loss of workers hasn’t been so small since August 2008. Unemployment, now at 9.4%, is a tenth of a percent lower...
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Two Optimism Indexes Show Gains; BusinessWeek/YouGov's Hits 50
A couple of optimism indexes were up recently including BusinessWeek/YouGov’s Optimism Index, which tipped 50 for the first time in its five-month history. While it dropped back down to 49 by...
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Cleveland Businesses Save Money By Practicing Sustainability
By Emily Schmitt Recently, I reported on a story about Entrepreneurs for Sustainability (E4S). The Cleveland (Ohio) nonprofit teaches its 7,000 members, mostly local entrepreneurs and small-business...
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High-Voltage Future for Hard-Hit Indiana Town
By Diana Holden Last week, Barack Obama made his second journey as president to Elkhart, (Ind.) to win support for his economic initiatives. Elkhart County, located in my home state, has a 16.8%...
View ArticleNon-Oil Trade Deficit Decreasing
On his Economics Unbound blog, BusinessWeek chief economist Mike Mandel writes about America's evaporating non-petroleum trade deficit. Check it out, and see the numbers.
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More Manufacturing Shipments Hit America's Ports in July
July saw a 7% increase in the number of global manufacturers shipping to American ports according to U.S. Customs Data compiled by Panjiva, a tracker and profiler of foreign businesses. 140,000...
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Optimistic Indicators from the Business(Week) Community
We're almost two years deep into the recession. The worst economic downturn since the 1930s. More than 14 million unemployed. Trillions in market equity evaporated. Insecurity about our position in...
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Banks Loosen White Collar a Bit
Banks not quite giving away money, but survey shows they're being less strict. According to Chicago-based Northern Trust (NTRS), business credit is getting a bit easier to grab on to. A recent Senior...
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