Americans applied for fewer unemployment benefits at the end of 2019, the Labor Department announced Thursday. The number dropped by 2,000 to 222,000 in the seven days up until December 28, although the four-week average ticked up by 4,750 to 233,250.
The report beat expectations that had predicted 225,000 new claims, according to Reuters. The result marks the third consecutive weekly decline.
“I think we’re definitely going to see slightly smaller growth month by month than what we saw in 2019 and that’s consistent with economists expectations’ of the macroeconomy weakening slightly,” in the labor market, Beth Akers, Manhattan Institute senior fellow, told Cheddar.
She will be keeping an eye on manufacturing trends and changes in policy regarding trade for indications about how job numbers will grow (or shrink) in 2020.
“If you’re looking to something to be concerned about, you can look at the four-week moving average, which is up from what it’s been over the course of the year,” Akers said. “But, by and large, these are really strong, positive numbers for the labor market.”
Mike Draper, Founder and Owner of Raygun, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he discusses how increases to the minimum wage in several states next year will help his company and explains why he advocates for it nationally.
The push to regulate the gig worker economy is gaining steam as the share of workers who participate in freelancing through businesses like Uber and Lyft have also exponentially grown during the pandemic. Employment attorney Mark Kluger, founding partner at Kluger Healey, LLC, joined Cheddar to break down how the battle to reclassify gig workers will continue in the new year, and why the issue continues to generate conflict. "More and more workers are using gig work as their primary source of income and as a result of that they are not like employees in the sense that they don't have benefits like health insurance," Kluger noted.
Renewable energy company Heliogen has gone public via a SPAC merger with blank check company Athena Technology Acquisition Corp. on the NYSE. Joining Cheddar, founder and CEO Bill Gross went into why he felt the end of 2021 was the best time to get into the public markets. "If you think of the Industrial Revolution and the digital revolution, this renewable revolution is probably going to be as big or larger than that," he said. "So we're going to use this capital to scale our business, to meet more customer demand, to do more projects in parallel, and to scale our research and development to continue to drive down the price to be competitive with fossil fuels."
Carl "The Moon" Runefelt, a Bitcoin investment expert, recently made a hefty purchase of a $2 million Bugatti sports car at a Dubai dealership. The Swedish crypto evangelist joined Cheddar to talk about how he made the big acquisition of a luxury item he had long had his eye on and why he chose the dealership, The Car Vault, to make the unprecedented transaction. "They accepted crypto directly, and that was important to me," he said. "I am not going to go to any car dealership that don't accept crypto, and that's kind of a principle I have today."
Marjorie Mesidor, Partner at Phillips & Associates, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to break down the latest trends in the job market, as the demand for labor has recovered, but as the number of people willing to fill positions remains relatively low.
2021 proved that crypto currency is here to stay. This year saw more and more adoptions of crypto, from top athletes looking to be paid in bitcoin, to Elon Musk even experimenting with bitcoin and dogecoin payments for a bit over at Tesla. And it wasn't all bitcoin either - other cryptos like Cardano and Solana saw some action in 2021 as well. Patrick McConlogue, CEO of Overline and former Citadel Investment Group Engineer explains why 2021 was such a good year for crypto, and what to expect in 2022.
2021 saw markets continue to be impacted by the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic -most recently in the form of the Omicron variant- in addition to the global supply chain shortage, and increased inflation. But it wasn't all bad news, as crypto soared throughout the year, and meme stocks continued to have a moment. With the year coming to a close, investors are keeping an eye out to see if they should expect more of the same in the new year. Chris Vecchio, Senior Analyst, at DailyFX tells us what market trends to be on the watch for in 2022.
2021 proved to be yet another formidable year for Tesla. In a year that saw electric vehicles carve out their own space in the transportation world, the company made further strides, keeping its spot on top even as new companies threatened competition. Tesla was able to hit the trillion dollar valuation mark, increase vehicle deliveries even as the world grappled with supply chain and delivery issues and sign a major deal with Hertz this year. And of course, you can't talk about Tesla without talking about Elon Musk, CEO and founder of the company, richest man in the world and Time Magazine Person of the Year, who saw plenty of successes in 2021 as well. Al Root, Senior Writer at Barron’s, explains just how good a year it was for Tesla.
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index showed an 18.4 percent surge in October as the housing market continues to boom. October's levels are a slight downturn from the roughly 19 percent increase the index saw in September, but come roughly in line with economist expectations. Michael J. Romer, Managing Partner, Romer Debbas joined Wake Up with Cheddar to discuss.
U.S. airlines have canceled more than 6,000 flights since Christmas eve, causing headaches for travelers.
Airlines cited staffing shortages amid the omicron outbreak as the primary reason for the interruptions to service. The cancellations come at the busiest time of year for air travel. Steve Shur, President, The Travel Technology Association joined Wake Up with Cheddar to discuss.
