U.S. small-businesses owners are deeply pessimistic about economy, as inflation, higher borrowing rates, and a tight labor market weighed on their outlook last month. The National Federation of Independent Business’s (NFIB) optimism index, in a report on April 11. fell to 90.1 in March from 90.9 in February. This marks the fifteenth consecutive month below the 49-year…
America’s Small Businesses Deeply Pessimistic About Economy
Baby Boomers Replace Millennials as Nation’s Top Home-Buying Generation
A just-released study by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) indicates baby boomers have now surpassed millennials when it comes to home-buying in the United States. In its 2023 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report, the NAR indicates the boomers, aged 58–76, comprised 39 percent of all homebuyers at the end of 2022—a 10-point…
Twitter Inc. Merged Into X Corp. and ‘No Longer Exists’
Elon Musk-owned X Corp. has absorbed the social media platform Twitter as part of the CEO’s long-awaited move to turn it into an “everything app” similar to China’s WeChat app. After finalizing his purchase of Twitter Inc. in October 2022, Musk discussed about a plan to gradually turn the platform into an app device that…
Bank Crisis Spawns Credit Crunch: Analysts
In the wake of recent failures in some regional bank, Americans across the board are finding it harder to get credit. Because smaller banks are so critical to small-business and consumer lending, many analysts predict the fallout from the Fed’s campaign to tame inflation will have dire consequences for the economy. “Bank lending peaked in…
Lawmakers Probe If Collusion Between SVB and Its Biggest Customers Helped Fuel Collapse
Two Democrat lawmakers are probing if “mutual backscratching arrangements” between Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and some of its biggest customers helped fuel its collapse early last month. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have requested responses from some of the largest depositors at the failed bank, to probe the nature of their relationship with the failed…
World’s Top Chipmaker Posts Drop in Revenue, Its First Decline in Four Years
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s top chipmaker, posted a double-digit drop in revenue last month, its first decline in four years. The chip-making giant’s filing on April 10 showed that revenue for March fell 15 percent from the same month a year earlier, after economic headwinds hit the semiconductor market, according to Dow Jones Newswires….
IRS Moves to Crack Down on Tax Shelters for Small Businesses
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued proposed regulations that would abolish certain tax shelters. The agency’s proposed rulemaking wants to classify certain types of insurance arrangements that let small businesses benefit from tax breaks as either “listed transactions” or “transactions of interest,” making it easier for the IRS to disallow certain claimed tax benefits. “Listed…
Taking Risk Is No Longer Necessary, but That Is a Problem
Commentary Taking risks is no longer necessary to make a return on your savings. Not long ago, “cash is trash” was a common theme as savings accounts yielded zero. Of course, such was the intent of the Federal Reserve following the financial crisis of 2008–09 in the hope that inflating asset prices would trickle down…
Venture Capital Funding for Start-Ups Plummets, Fewest Deals in Five Years
Venture capital funding for start-ups plummeted by more than half in the first quarter of 2023 compared with the year before. The period saw a massive slowdown in the tech industry, as the number of new funding agreements fell to less than 3,000, a 55 percent decline and the lowest level in more than five years. American-based…
Signature Bank Executives Allegedly Sold $100 Million in Stock During Crypto Surge: WSJ
Executives and directors at the recently failed Signature Bank allegedly sold more than $100 million in stock during the crypto boom. Senior bank insiders have been accused of participating in this scheme for three years leading up to the bank’s collapse in early March, according an analysis by The Wall Street Journal. Signature Bank collapsed on…
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