Author: Joe Higgins

It has never been easy to predict how the U.S. economy will perform at the beginning of a new year, and 2022 is no exception.

If you own a car and commute to work or drive to the store once a week, you are painfully aware of the price of gasoline in your city.

What’s happening in our country? Gasoline is $4 a gallon, used car prices are up 26 percent, food costs keep increasing, and homes are out of reach for the average buyer.

The U.S. Commerce Department announced last week that America’s gross domestic product missed expectations in the third quarter of 2021 and dropped to its slowest growth since March 2020. It was a disappointing performance but doesn’t necessarily signal a weak fourth quarter.

Why is business so good, given the myriad of problems in the economy?

The Conference Board reported that consumer confidence in August fell by more than 11 points from July.

Economists worry about every bit of data that comes out of the Commerce Department, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or the Federal Reserve. Is inflation going to deliver the final blow to the recovery?

This is good news for BrandSource dealers, many of whom are benefiting from increased traffic and higher prices due to the backlog of goods.

The U.S. economy appeared to be firing on all cylinders in June.

Now that inflation has landed on the doorsteps of our BrandSource dealers, it joins shortages, back orders and disruptions as part of the new normal in home goods.

The U.S. Labor Department released its May jobs report last week and it left many economists a little confused.

Should we be excited about 559,000 additional jobs last month, which is one of the highest monthly employment gains in U.S. history?

April’s jobs report, out last week, was a huge disappointment, especially if you use economists’ expectations for your baseline.