Daily Musings — Notable News of the Day
January 8, 2021
U.S. labor market recovery faltering; layoffs hit record in 2020
Layoffs announced by U.S. companies surged 18.9% in December, other data on Thursday showed. Though services industry activity accelerated last month, employment fell. The reports followed on the heels of news on Wednesday that private companies shed workers in December, heightening the risk that the economy lost jobs last month for the first time since April.
Moderna CEO says vaccine likely to protect for ‘couple of years’
“The nightmare scenario that was described in the media in the spring with a vaccine only working a month or two is, I think, out of the window…The antibody decay generated by the vaccine in humans goes down very slowly…We believe there will be protection potentially for a couple of years.”
Fed’s Daly: ‘Dangerous’ to pick one metric for full employment
“There’s a danger in computing a number and saying, that means we are there,” Daly said at a Shadow Open Market Committee virtual event, adding that the Fed needs to look at a range of indicators, a “dashboard” of metrics.
U.S. wants faster vaccinations as pandemic worsens, job market suffers
As of Thursday, roughly 6 million people across the United States had received a first injection of the two-shot vaccines, accounting for less than one-third of more than 21 million doses shipped to date, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Democratic wins in Georgia Senate races could mean more stimulus checks, small boost to Biden’s economic plan
“This all has got to be done with Democratic votes,” Gardner says. “Can you do this by keeping all Democrats — no defections? I’m very skeptical.”
Global Food Prices at Six-Year High Are Set to Keep On Climbing
A United Nations gauge of food prices has jumped 18% since May, as adverse weather, government measures to safeguard supplies and robust demand helped fuel rallies across agricultural commodities from grains to palm oil. Prices will likely climb further, the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organization said.
Want a new car? Get ready to pay more than $40,000 as prices continue to rise
“It’s almost like we have two different countries within this country of people who are buying new houses, buying new cars, versus other folks who are perhaps in the service industry and are struggling.”
Rich Americans Bracing for Higher Taxes Await Biden’s First Move
President-elect Joe Biden campaigned on a variety of tax-rate hikes and other changes aimed at squeezing trillions of dollars from corporations and Americans earning more than $400,000.
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