ECONOMICS

Amid a collapse in 'hard' economic data, 'soft' surveys from S&P Global was expected to see both Services and Manufacturing PMIs slide further in preliminary November data.

However, the data was more mixed with US Manufacturing falling more than expected to 49.4 – back into contraction – (vs 49.9 exp) from 50.0 in October. However, US Services unexpectedly rose from 50.6 to 50.8 (exp 50.3).

Source: Bloomberg

Commenting on the data, Siân (more…)

By Sam Bourgi of CreditNews,

With Black Friday just around the corner, retailers are offering larger discounts in advance to lure inflation-weary shoppers back to their stores. According to an Adobe Analytics analysis, retailers got a headstart on Black Friday deals this year, with most online product categories offering extended holiday discounts beginning in October.

Online apparel prices were down 9% during the month, compared to 2% and 5% discounts in 2021 and 2022, respectively. (more…)

Authored by Petr Svab via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The U.S. federal government has borrowed so much money that, over the past year, it has had to spend one-fifth of all the money it collected just on debt interest—which came to almost $880 billion.

(Illustration by The Epoch Times, Getty Images, Shutterstock)

Americans paid some $450 billion less in income taxes for the year, trapping the government in the pincers of a fiscal crunch.

The country teeters on the brink (more…)