U.S. employers might have trouble hiring workers fast enough in coming months to keep up with the projected burst of economic growth. Consumer spending at restaurants, hotels and salons is already starting to take off as the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic eases and more people get vaccinated and draw on their stimulus checks and savings. But many economists expect economic activity to pick up faster than payrolls, at least initially, for several reasons, causing bottlenecks and...
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has worked hard to explain the central bank's policies to ordinary people, hoping to shore up trust at a time of wavering public faith in institutions. The effort has produced some unintended results. On Wednesday, for instance, Mr.
The following are forecasts for next week's U.S. data from a survey compiled by The Wall Street Journal. DATE TIME RELEASE PERIOD CONSENSUS PREVIOUS Thursday 0830 Jobless Claims Apr 17 608 K 576 K 1000 Existing Home Sales Mar 6.03 M 6.22 M-- percent change -3.1% +6.6% 1000 Leading Index Mar +0.9% +0.2% 1100 Kansas City Fed Mfg Svy Apr 27 26 Composite Index Friday 0945 Markit Flash Mfg PMI Apr 60.5 59.1* 0945 Markit Flash Services PMI Apr 61.0 60.4* 1000 New Home Sales Mar 893 K 775 K-- percent...
Hiring increased in 49 states across the country in March, with large states such as California, Texas and New York adding the most jobs. California added 119,600 last month, Texas added 99,000 and New York employment rose 63,700, the Labor Department said Friday. Alaska was the only state to shed jobs, losing about 200. Still, labor-market performance is uneven across the states, as some dealt with increases in infections while others have more fully reopened as vaccinations...
Consumers sentiment in the U.S. continued to rise in early April on improving economic and job situation amid progress on vaccination, support from fiscal policy and easing of virus-related restrictions. The preliminary estimate of the index of consumer sentiment compiled by the University of Michigan came in at 86.5 in April, up from 84.9 in March. The reading misses expectations from economists polled by The Wall Street Journal, who forecast the indicator to increase to 89.0.
Construction of new homes in the U.S. increased sharply in March following a weather-related decline the previous month, data from the Commerce Department showed Friday. Here are the main takeaways from the report:. --Housing starts, a measure of U.S. homebuilding, rose by 19.4% in March compared with February, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.739 million.
BEIJING--China's economy surged 18.3% in the first quarter from a year earlier, a record rate of growth that reflected the recovery from a deep coronavirus-induced trough in early 2020 and the continued momentum of the world's second largest economy. The rate of gross domestic product growth in the first three months of 2021 was sharply higher than the 6.5% year- over-year growth recorded in the final quarter of 2020, though it fell short of the 19.2% growth expected by...
China's home sales surged in March, albeit at a slower pace than in the first two months of the year, given a low comparative base in early 2020 and the country's recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Home sales by volume--a major indicator of demand--soared 95.5% in the first three months of 2021 from a year earlier, slower than the 143.5% gain recorded in the first two months of the year, according to data released Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics.
BEIJING--China's major economic indicators continued to show robust growth momentum in March, according to official data Friday, helping the world's second-largest economy report its fastest year-on-year growth on record in the first quarter. Industrial production, investment and consumer spending all posted double-digit percentage growth in March, though the growth rates were generally lower than those during the January-February period, which were measured...
BEIJING--China's economy surged 18.3% in the first quarter from a year earlier, a record rate of growth that was flattered by the coronavirus-induced trough at the start of 2020, but that also reflects continued momentum in the world's second-largest economy. The rate of gross domestic product growth in the first three months of 2021 was sharply higher than the 6.5% year- over-year growth recorded in the final quarter of 2020, though it fell short of the 19.2% growth expected...
News, commentary and research reports are from third-party sources unaffiliated with Fidelity. Fidelity does not endorse or adopt their content. Fidelity makes no guarantees that information supplied is accurate, complete, or timely, and does not provide any warranties regarding results obtained from their use.
PDF’s require Adobe® Reader® and will open in a new window.