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US manufacturing recovery continues despite weak December
Washington (AFP) - The ongoing struggles of the aviation sector held back US durable goods orders at the end of 2020, but the manufacturing sector continued to slowly recover from the Covid-19 downturn, government data showed on Wednesday. Orders for big-ticket manufactured items grew a measly 0.2 percent in December, well below expectations and November's upwardly revised growth, though there's evidence the sector's recovery is continuing after the coronavirus disrupted factory operations across the United States earlier in 2020. Orders were up overall 1.4 percent from December 2019, and Ian ...
AFP
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US consumers mired in Covid gloom, but see better days ahead
Washington (AFP) - US consumers are pessimistic about the state of the economy as it weathers the Covid-19 pandemic's tough winter months, but see things getting better soon, a survey said Tuesday. The Conference Board reported its January consumer confidence index was at 89.3, increasing slightly more than expected from its 87.1 level in December. "Consumers' appraisal of present-day conditions weakened further in January, with Covid-19 still the major suppressor," The Conference Board's Senior Director of Economic Indicators Lynn Franco said. "Consumers' expectations for the economy and job...
AFP
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US housing boomed in 2020 even as pandemic slammed economy
Washington (AFP) - The US housing market boomed in 2020 even as the coronavirus pandemic caused one of the worst economic contractions of modern times, as Americans took advantage of low borrowing rates to buy homes. The surge in new and existing home sales, and home construction, underscores the unequal experience of the pandemic across the United States. Even as tens of millions of people lost their jobs due to the pandemic disruptions, others were able to afford major property purchases. And it serves as a stark contrast to the 2008 global financial crisis, when mortgages were at the center...
AFP
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US existing home sales hit 14-year record despite pandemic
Washington (AFP) - Record low mortgage rates amid the coronavirus pandemic fueled a US housing boom last year, pushing existing home sales to the highest since 2006, according to a survey released Friday. Existing home sales totaled 5.64 million in 2020, 5.6 percent higher than in 2019, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said. Even as prices rose due to high demand and constrained supply, low borrowing rates and the pandemic's disruptions to daily life allowed those who could afford it to buy homes. In December, the pace of sales rose more than expected to 6.76 million annualized, 0.7 ...
AFP
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Jobless claim data underscores employment crisis awaiting Biden
Washington (AFP) - Government data released the day after Joe Biden entered the White House made clear the scale of the employment crisis facing the new US president as the country struggles to make it through the Covid-19 pandemic. The United States saw 900,000 new filings for unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department said Thursday, a massive number that remains well above the single worst week of the 2008-2010 global financial crisis, during which Biden served as vice president under Barack Obama. Economists had been expecting a sharper drop in seasonally adjusted claims in the ...
AFP
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Jobless claim data underscores employment crisis awaiting Biden
Washington (AFP) - The United States saw 900,000 new filings for unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department said Thursday, a massive number that shows the economy remains far from healed as President Joe Biden takes office. The seasonally adjusted figure for the week ended January 16 was worse than expected and just 26,000 less than the previous week's downwardly revised level. It was also still well above the single worst week of the 2008-2010 global financial crisis, during which Biden served as vice president under Barack Obama. Adding to the toll were 423,734 new filings made u...
AFP
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Fearful US consumers await Biden stimulus injection
Washington (AFP) - President-elect Joe Biden's stimulus plan could spur hesitant US consumers to start spending again, analysts said Friday, amid reports of falling sales in December. But they warned the vast package may not be enough to overcome surging coronavirus cases. Biden on Thursday unveiled a $1.9 trillion package aimed at getting the world's largest economy back on its feet after business shutdowns to stop Covid-19 caused a massive downturn in 2020. The package, dubbed the American Rescue Plan, would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, fund struggling state and local governments, ...
AFP
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E-commerce soars, restaurants suffer as virus hits 2020 US retail sales
Washington (AFP) - The coronavirus pandemic upended shopping habits in the United States in 2020, government data showed Friday, pushing customers towards online outlets but keeping them away from restaurants and electronics stores. The Commerce Department said US retail sales in the final month of 2020 were up only 2.9 percent from last year, weaker than the 5.8 percent growth seen from December 2018 as stores across the world's largest economy struggled with its massive Covid-19 outbreak. Month-on-month sales also fell by a worse-than-expected 0.7 percent in December and November's data was ...
AFP
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US inflation stays muted as chaotic 2020 ends
Washington (AFP) - The US economy saw little inflation in 2020 amid the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, with the final month of a year seeing only a slight increase as gasoline prices rose, according to government data Wednesday. The consumer price index (CPI) increased 1.4 percent for 2020, the Labor Department said in the report reflecting a year during which the economy plunged as the pandemic shut businesses nationwide. That was down from the 2.3 percent inflation in 2019. Amid a still-tentative economic recovery, CPI rose 0.4 percent in December, seasonally adjusted, in li...
AFP
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Soaring Covid-19 infections likely eroded US employment recovery
Washington (AFP) - Hiring in the United States likely stalled at the end of 2020, economists say, as coronavirus infections soared and Washington lawmakers squabbled over a massive spending bill that was approved only at the last minute. The Labor Department on Friday will release the December jobs report, the final report for a year that saw the US economy unraveled by the Covid-19 pandemic, which continues to rage even as vaccines are being rolled out. Business closures to stop the virus from spreading sent the unemployment rate skyrocketing in April from its record-low level, and though it ...
AFP
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