Justin Ho

3 weeks ago | marketplace.org | Justin Ho

Consumers surveyed by the University of Michigan within the last month were more pessimistic about the economy than they were in April. Its index of consumer sentiment is down 30% since January. That mostly reflects fears about where the economy is headed in the near future, but there are plenty of signs that those fears are starting to affect consumer behavior today. Retail sales in April, for example, were flat from the month before, and many consumers are thinking twice about taking on debt.

1 month ago | marketplace.org | Justin Ho

Big U.S. companies are starting to inch back into the corporate bond market despite all of the uncertainty around kind of everything in this economy. And companies haven’t just been issuing bonds here in the U.S.; Google’s parent company Alphabet just announced that it sold more than $7.5 billion worth of Eurobonds. American companies that issue bonds in Europe are typically big household names. Think T-Mobile, Alphabet and IBM.

1 month ago | marketplace.org | Justin Ho

Bond markets have become volatile thanks to the president’s tariffs and the damage they could do to the economy. Investors have been especially nervous about pouring money into corporate bonds. Lower demand means lower prices. And, with bonds, lower prices mean higher yields — higher interest rates on the money a company's borrowing by selling the bond. This time a month ago, the corporate bond market had all but shut down.

1 month ago | marketplace.org | Justin Ho

One of the most promising trends in this economy over the last few years has been strong productivity growth; labor productivity has been growing for two years now, and last year it was especially strong. That’s important because it means we’re taking fewer hours to make more stuff — or do more stuff, in the case of services, which make up more than two-thirds of this economy. Productivity growth can help businesses afford to increase workers’ pay. It can keep a lid on inflation.

1 month ago | marketplace.org | Justin Ho

On Wednesday morning, we’re going to get the first read on gross domestic product in the first quarter from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. And the consensus is: We're in for a slowdown. Not just slower growth than we've been seeing — an actual contraction. The Atlanta Federal Reserve estimates that GDP will decline by 1.5%. That would be the first contraction in three years, and an indication that the President’s tariffs are already affecting the economy.