Business Update – December 13, 2023
Welcome to our Weekly Digest – stay in the know with some recent news updates relevant to business and the economy.
Americans feeling inflation’s impact on living standards, opportunities
A CBS News poll reveals that inflation is significantly impacting Americans, even amid stronger jobs reports and economists’ talk of “soft landings,” people say they still pay more attention to their own experiences than to macroeconomic measures — and an overwhelming number say their incomes aren’t keeping pace.
US budget gap is $47 billion more than previous year
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced that it is estimating that the federal budget deficit totalled $383 billion in October and November 2023, the first two months of fiscal year 2024. That amount is $47 billion more than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year.
US wage growth, once an inflation risk, may be the prop a soft landing needs
New wage and labor market data released bolster what Federal Reserve officials have come to both hope and suspect: That rising worker pay and increased labor supply are helping the U.S. economy grow at a modest pace without fanning the inflationary pressures the Fed is trying to squelch.
Market bets for 2024 thrown into chaos by US recession conundrum
Investment banks and asset managers have wildly varying stock market and currency calls for 2024, reflecting deep division over whether the U.S. economy will enter a long-heralded recession and drag the world with it.
IRS warns taxpayers to brace for demands to return funds wrongly received for pandemic-era relief
The IRS sent over 20,000 letters telling taxpayers their claims for a pandemic-era tax break were disallowed—and that the agency will be demanding repayment.
Fed can slash rates and still be ‘higher for longer’
The Federal Reserve could comfortably lop a percentage point off its policy rate next year without changing its mantra of ‘higher for longer’ – what seems a contradiction is easily resolved.
A ‘soft landing’ or a recession? How each one might affect America’s households and businesses
The solid hiring revealed in Friday’s jobs report for November, along with a raft of other recent economic data, is boosting hopes that the U.S. economy will achieve a “soft landing” next year rather than a widely feared recession. What would a soft landing look like, compared with a potential recession?
Financial accounts of the United States
The Federal Reserve’s Z.1 Financial Accounts of the United States report includes data on transactions and levels of financial assets and liabilities, by sector and financial instrument; full balance sheets, including net worth, for households and non-profit organizations, nonfinancial corporate businesses, and nonfinancial noncorporate businesses; Integrated Macroeconomic Accounts; and additional supplemental detail.
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