Viewpoints

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's state coincident indexes were strong in August, though specific results continue be quite divergent. Every state except New Mexico reports a gain since May. Of that group, though, 7 had [...]

The Fed released its Q2:2020 Financial Accounts (formerly known as the Flow of Funds) data on September 21. This quarter's data were (if you took high school Latin) more interesting than usual given what households did with the money [...]

The last few days have seen mounting evidence that firmly quashes the idea that we might have been close to achieving any semblance of normality in the period immediately ahead. The latest data that concern COVID-19 in particular make [...]

The pandemic utterly dominated state income numbers in the second quarter. Every state saw a double-digit rate of decline in earnings from employment and noncorporate business. Every state saw a double-digit rate of growth in [...]

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.1% in the three months to September, according to the Hong Kong Census and Statistics (see Figure 1). Note that the jobless rate has been hovering around this [...]

In a sudden reversal, the Trump Administration has given its blessing for a bigger stimulus plan. It was only a week or so ago when the White House National Economic Advisor stated the strong rebound in economic activity doesn't [...]

The liquidity boom fueled from record fiscal and monetary stimulus has disappeared. The unwind process will be uneven just as it was uneven on the upside when record stimulus flowed through portfolio, income, and spending channels. [...]

Officiandos of the works of Charles Dickens will recognize the book titles that head up this commentary. 'Hard Times' certainly seems apt when assessing the global economic damage that's been generated by the current crisis and the [...]