By Leonard A. Robinson Southwest Airlines said on May 19 that travel demands are on the rebound as June seems set to be “fairly typical,” providing further hope that summer travel will be near pre-pandemic levels. When it released its quarterly earnings, the Dallas-based airline noted that rising jet fuel costs weighed on the company’s bottom line [...]
By Leonard A. Robinson Millions continue to utilize unemployment benefits despite an abundance of available jobs and a sustained decline of jobless claims. Jobless claims have continued a steep decline over the past few weeks. 473,000 Americans filed jobless claims in the week ending May 8, down from 507,000 a week prior, according to the Labor Department. [...]
By Leonard A. Robinson As consumer prices climbed at their highest rate in 13 years, U.S. wholesale prices made a similar jump. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the producer price index climbed by 0.6% in April, surpassing the 0.3% rise estimated by economists. Wholesale inflation over the past year has increased dramatically to 6.2% [...]
By Leonard A. Robinson Shoppers across the country are beginning to notice a sharp climb in prices everywhere from grocery stores to furniture shops and even used car dealerships. Every component of the consumer price index (CPI) climbed during April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The index measures consumer prices for a wide array of [...]
By Leonard Robinson University of Chicago professor Austan Goolsbee believes that consumers should expect “worse service in affected industries: wait times at restaurants, retail, housing renovations, and the like” as the U.S. grapples with a post-pandemic labor market. Goolsbee, a former economic policy advisor to President Obama, shared this via email with NBC News. Hourly-wage workers, primarily [...]
By Leonard Robinson Passengers eager to fly the open skies are stretching their wallets to take advantage of deals on business class seats thanks to a shortage of travelers for airlines. Business-class fares are at historic lows. A last-minute business class flight from Indianapolis to London costs roughly $2,000, according to Google Flights. Before the pandemic, [...]
By Leonard Robinson On April 14, Audi released its new Q4 E-Tron electric SUV, the German manufacturer's cheapest model with a $45,000 price tag. Current federal electric vehicle tax credits can bring the most basic model down to $37,500. The Q4 E-Tron basic model will have rear-wheel drive, while more expensive models will have all-wheel [...]
By Leonard Robinson In a major development for the digital currency market, Coinbase, the popular cryptocurrency exchange, made its NASDAQ debut on April 14. According to CNBC, shares for Coinbase opened at $381 per share setting the initial market cap at $99.6 billion on a fully diluted basis. Quickly, the shares rose to $429 pushing the [...]
By Leonard Robinson On April 13, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig arrived on Capitol Hill with bad news for lawmakers. Roughly $1 trillion in federal taxes remains at risk of being unpaid, in large part due to errors, fraud, and lack of resources to properly collect balances from taxpayers. The IRS chief, throughout his three-hour appearance [...]
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