Business Update – October 02, 2024
Welcome to our Weekly Digest – stay in the know with some recent news updates relevant to business and the economy.
Low weekly US jobless claims, robust corporate profits highlight economy’s resilience
The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits dropped to a four-month low last week, suggesting that the labor market remained fairly healthy. The upbeat outlook on the economy was underscored by other data on Thursday showing corporate profits increased at a more robust pace than initially thought in the second quarter.
Economic Outlook Q4 2024
S&P Global Ratings expects the U.S. economy to expand 2.7% in 2024 and 1.8% in 2025 (on an annual average basis). The growth forecasts are 0.2 and 0.1 percentage point higher, respectively, compared with June forecasts, partly reflecting the impulse from financial conditions that turned more positive and partly on stronger core goods consumption than previously expected.
U.S. crude oil falls nearly 3%, closes below $68 on report Saudi committed to production increase
U.S. crude oil prices fell nearly 3% on Thursday on a report that Saudi Arabia is committed to pressing ahead with production increases later this year. Saudi is ready to increase production in December even if the move results in low oil prices for a prolonged period, people told The Financial Times.
Fed rate cuts will put money in pockets, but a mood shift may take time
Even before the Federal Reserve approved its outsized half-percentage-point interest rate cut last week, financial markets had begun making credit cheaper for households and businesses as they bid down mortgage rates, cut corporate bond yields, and chipped away at what consumers pay for personal, auto and other loans.
How fast that process will continue now that the U.S. central bank’s first rate cut is in the books is unclear, in particular whether easing credit conditions will become tangible to consumers in ways that shift attitudes about the economy.
Tipping in the USA
How tipping beyond the service industry is becoming the norm. Everywhere you go in the US there are services asking for tips that you wouldn’t normally see. Are consumers subsidising people’s salaries?
Port workers from Maine to Texas are set to strike Tuesday
Longshore workers at ports from Maine to Texas are set to walk off the job early Tuesday, staging what could become the most disruptive strike to the US economy in decades.
Key Fed inflation gauge at 2.2% in August, lower than expected
Inflation moved closer to the Federal Reserve’s target in August, easing the way for future interest rate cuts, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Though the inflation numbers indicated continued progress, the personal spending and income numbers both came in light.
IRS opens new process for payroll companies, third-party payers to help clients resolve incorrect claims for the Employee Retention Credit
The Internal Revenue Service announced that the agency is opening a supplemental claim process to help third-party payers and their clients resolve incorrect claims for the Employee Retention Credit.
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