Traditionally, our office is swamped after Halloween with all the candy that our associates didn’t give away. Despite all appearances to the contrary, I don’t eat a lot of the stuff throughout the remainder of the…
Common Cents Blog
This past Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) at the Federal Reserve cut the target overnight lending rate 25 basis points (0.25%). This was as everyone expected. However, Chairman Jay Powell gave investors a jolt…
On Friday, despite the continued Federal government shutdown, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September 2025. Although the report was over a week past due, it was “better late…
This past Thursday night, I watched the Steelers vs. Bengals game on television. It was an exciting game — and surprising one, at least for me — that the Bengals won. After all, according to ESPN.com,…
This past Wednesday, the “spot” price for gold closed above $4,000/troy ounce for the first time ever. By this measure alone, the shiny stuff is as expensive as it has ever been. At the end of…
This morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) did NOT release “The Employment Situation – September 2025” as it was supposed to do. So, the markets will have to wait a little while longer to ascertain…
Perhaps not surprisingly, people frequently ask me about the potential impact artificial intelligence (AI) might have on the labor markets and, therefore, the U.S. economy. After all, consumer spending makes up close to 70% of Gross Domestic…
As everyone who reads economic newsletters should know by now, the Federal Reserve cut the target overnight lending rate by 0.25% last week. This move should not have come as a surprise to anyone. It was…
This past week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) issued a revision to the previously announced, and previously revised, change in nonfarm payroll numbers from April 2024 through March 2025. It seems, there were actually 911K…
Great news, no one is getting a new job! This year marks my 30th year in this industry, and I am still sometimes caught off guard when bad news for the economy is good news for…