Economy

Small business owners are more optimistic than they’ve been throughout 2024 but they remain less optimistic than they have been historically. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose 0.8 point to 90.5 in May, a figure that is the highest level of the year but is still below the historical average of 98, the NFIB said…

Compact trucks +70% since Jan 2020; full-size pickups +39%, SUVs +30%, compact cars +20%. Auto insurance +44% since Jan 2022. By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET. Used vehicle prices are in a historic downward spiral, unwinding the hugest-ever price spike that had built up during the pandemic. Despite the plunge, wholesale prices of vehicles…

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It's one of the most curious dichotomies of the U.S. Despite having much higher average pay than most other countries, the vast majority of Americans are constantly struggling financially, and the problem seems to only be getting worse.To those abroad, this often seems confusing. But as a Redditor learned when she dug in, it all comes down to…

The Mexican peso was on course for one of its biggest weekly drops in several decades, as a rally in the dollar heaped pressure on the currency, which had already endured a turbulent week after recent elections.The peso, one of the most liquid emerging market currencies, weakened as much as 2.3 per cent against the US dollar in Friday morning…

The United States government is more than $34 trillion in debt. Did you know that our government owes $34 trillion? That’s $34 trillion!Whenever I write about economic policy, I get a lot of mail and a lot of comments basically asking why I’m not talking more about the national debt. So I thought it might be useful to talk about how I see the…

👋 Welcome to 5 Things PM! Not so long ago many of us were willing to buy fancy new TVs, Peloton bikes and bottles of the good stuff. Because you only live once, right? Now the free-spending party is coming to an end. Nicole Goodkind analyzes why this could be. Here’s what else you might…

Gen Z members, born between 1997 and 2012, have been hit harder by higher prices than all other age groups.Relief appears to be on the horizon, with some of those price increases poised to slow in coming months.Freshly minted college graduates are grappling with more than just trying to land their first jobs.There’s the cost of rent. And eating…

A massive corporate rethink is underway. Inflation in construction costs explains only a small portion of the spending boom. By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET. Companies plowed $18.4 billion in April into the construction of manufacturing plants in the US, a seasonally adjusted annual rate of construction spending of a record $212 billion,…

The Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, has stated that the lack of a liquid foreign exchange market was the major reason why some multinational companies exited Nigeria. Edun, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme, stated that the government has addressed this issue by…