Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida praised efforts by the central bank and Congress to stimulate the economy, although he warned it could take more than a year to return to pre-Covid levels.
Last week, the dollar recovered against a pack of its major rivals, gaining 0.67 percent and snapping a two-week losing streak.
The coronavirus epidemic in the United States continues as the number of cases has increased in the Midwest. So far, 8,343,140 have been reported infected, while 224,283 have died. So far, 40,023,135 cases of the coronavirus and 1,115,599 deaths have been reported worldwide.
Hopes are rising for Democrats and Republicans to reach a deal on a stimulus package ahead of the Nov. 3 election after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he suspected the stimulus package would not be enacted before the election.
“It would be difficult at this point to do something before the election and get it done, given where we are and the level of detail, but we‘I will try to continue to solve these problems,” he told the conference.
The Republican-controlled Senate is scheduled to vote on two different stimulus proposals next week. The first, to be voted on Tuesday, is an attempt to extend the Paycheck Protection Program, while on Wednesday the already rejected “skinny” bill, so named because it’s only worth $300 billion, is well below $2 trillion. the price tag the Democratic Party demanded. President Donald Trump recently said he was ready to sign a “big, beautiful stimulus.”
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics reported that the consumer price index excluding food and energy prices rose 0.2 percent in September (month-on-month), less than the previous month and in line with analysts’ expectations. Year-on-year, the consumer price index excluding food and energy prices rose 1.7 percent, less than analysts expected, and was unchanged from the previous month. On a year-over-year basis, the consumer price index, which includes food and energy prices, rose 1.4 percent, in line with analysts’ expectations and beating the previous month’s 1.3 percent, while on a monthly basis it rose 0.2 percent below the previous level. 0.4 percent for the month and remains in line with analysts’ expectations.
On Wednesday, the Producer Price Index was reported at 1.2 percent (year-on-year) after being at 0.6 percent in the previous month and beating analysts’ expectations of a 0.9 percent increase. In monthly terms, the producer price index was 0.4 percent in September, beating analysts’ expectations of a 0.2 percent increase and more than August’s 0.3 percent.
Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida praised efforts by the central bank and Congress to stimulate the economy, although he warned it could take more than a year to return to pre-Covid levels.
On Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department said initial jobless claims rose to 898,000 from 845,000, more than expected, as analysts polled had forecast a decline to 825,000. Continuing jobless claims fell to 10,018,000 from 11,183,000, better than analysts had expected, as they had expected a drop to 10,700,000.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said its October manufacturing survey rose to 32.3 from 15 in the previous month and well below analysts’ forecasts, as they had predicted a 14.
On Friday, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that retail sales rose 1.9 percent (month-on-month) in September, much better than the 0.7 percent that analysts had expected and up from 0.6 percent in the previous month. The Federal Reserve Board of Governors released data on industrial production, which showed a 0.6 percent drop in September after a 0.4 percent increase in the previous month.
The University of Michigan reported that consumer confidence rose to 81.2 in October from 80.4 the previous month, beating analysts’ forecasts of 80.5.