Economic Trends & Indicators
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
May 13, 2026
The Headlines:
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that seasonally adjusted U.S. nonfarm payroll employment increased by 115,000 in April. This was well above market…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
May 6, 2026
The Headlines:
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported last week that U.S. real GDP increased at a 2.0% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the first quarter of 2026. This was an increase from…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
April 28, 2026
The Headlines:
The U.S. trade deficit increased slightly in February from $54.7 billion to $57.3 billion (seasonally adjusted) according to the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
April 22, 2026
The Headlines:
Multiple inflation indicators for the month of March reflected the influence of higher oil and gasoline prices due to the military action in Iran affecting the Strait of Hormuz.…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
April 15, 2026
The Headlines:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently reported that nonfarm payroll employment in the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL metropolitan area increased by 1,700 in January to…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
April 8, 2026
The Headlines:
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that U.S. nonfarm payroll employment increased by 178,000 in March. This was well above market expectations, which were mostly…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
April 1, 2026
As the saying goes, “oil is the lifeblood of the economy.” Oil is the fundamental raw material necessary to fuel the transportation that moves goods to market. Without oil, the world’s ships,…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
March 25, 2026
The Headlines:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Tuesday that nonfarm business productivity increased by 1.8% in the 4th quarter of 2025. This was down from 5.2% and 4.2% increases in…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
March 17, 2026
The Headlines:
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for January. There was very little change in job openings, hires, quits,…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
March 11, 2026
The Headlines:
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that U.S. nonfarm payroll employment decreased by 92,000 in February. Revisions to previous months were also negative.…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
March 3, 2026
The Headlines:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently reported that nonfarm payroll employment in the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL metropolitan area decreased by 100 in December to…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
February 26, 2026
The Headline:
Two important data points on inflation were released over the last several days. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on February 13th that the Consumer Price Index (CPI)…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
February 18, 2026
The Headline:
Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that nonfarm payroll employment increased by 130,000 in January, which was well above expectations. November and December…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
February 11, 2026
Understanding economic data in real-time can be like looking at a half-finished jigsaw puzzle where you do not know what the final picture is supposed to be. You think you know what the picture is,…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
February 3, 2026
The Headline:
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) recently released data on state-level GDP and personal income for the 3rd quarter of 2025. Real (inflation adjusted) GDP increased by 4.3% in…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
January 28, 2026
The Headline:
The U.S. International Trade Administration recently released data on exports by metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) for 2024. Of the 390 MSAs ranked, the Quad Cities (Henry (IL),…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
January 21, 2026
The Headlines:
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released labor market data for metropolitan areas for October and November. Before seasonal adjustment, nonfarm payroll employment in…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
January 13, 2026
The Headlines:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday that nonfarm payroll employment in the U.S. increased by 50,000 jobs (seasonally adjusted) in December, which was both lower…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
January 7, 2026
Overall economic performance in 2025 was mostly positive, despite being somewhat uneven, at the national level. Trade policy uncertainty put several components of GDP on a roller-coaster throughout…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
December 17, 2025
In this first of a two-part series summarizing the economic news of 2025, we look at what was probably the most significant event of the year—the large increase in tariffs across a variety of…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
December 9, 2025
On Friday, the Quad Cities Chamber hosted our annual Economic Forecast. In keeping with that emphasis on thinking about the year ahead, over the next couple of weeks, we will be reviewing the major…
2026 Economic Forecast: Cautiously Optimistic
December 5, 2025
“Overall, the U.S. economy is expected to hold steady going into 2026,” said Kevin Depew, RSM Deputy Chief Economist, who along with Bill Polley, Grow Quad Cities’ Senior Director of Business…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
December 3, 2025
The Headlines:
Last week brought a flurry of data updates as the federal government continues to catch up on releasing the backlog of data that was delayed by the lapse in funding. Among the data…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
November 25, 2025
The Headlines:
Total nonfarm payroll employment in the U.S. increased by 119,000 jobs in September according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which exceeded expectations. Job growth for July…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
November 18, 2025
Among the federal government functions that were disrupted in October and early November due to the government shutdown was the reporting of economic statistics. The steady stream of data is like the…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
November 12, 2025
The Headlines:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently reported that the consumer price index (CPI) increased by 0.3% in September on a seasonally adjusted basis. This level of inflation…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
November 4, 2025
The Headline:
Last Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve voted to decrease the target range for the federal funds rate by 1/4 percentage point to 3.75 to 4%.…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
October 28, 2025
This week, we take a closer look at manufacturing in the Quad Cities from a number of different perspectives. First, consider the size and importance of manufacturing here and across the U.S.…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
October 21, 2025
The Headlines:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently reported that nonfarm business sector productivity increased by 3.3% in the second quarter of 2025 (seasonally adjusted annual rate).…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
October 14, 2025
The Headlines:
The U.S. trade deficit was $78.3 billion in July, an increase of $19.2 billion from June, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The trade deficit for July was the highest…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
October 7, 2025
The Headlines:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently reported that total nonfarm payroll employment in the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL metropolitan area decreased by 500 in August to…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
October 1, 2025
The Headlines:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently reported that the consumer price index (CPI) increased by 0.4% in August on a seasonally adjusted basis. For comparison, the CPI…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
September 23, 2025
The Headlines:
Last Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve voted to decrease the target range for the federal funds rate by ½ percentage point to 4 to 4.25%. This…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
September 16, 2025
One of the most important economic questions currently facing the nation concerns the health of the labor market. The monthly job numbers and the unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
September 9, 2025
The Headlines:
Total nonfarm payroll employment in the U.S. increased by 22,000 jobs in August according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which was below expectations. Job growth for May and…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
September 2, 2025
The Headlines:
Tariff revenue continues to grow, according to the Treasury Daily Statement, with $182.8 billion collected so far this fiscal year. Monthly tariff collections have increased every…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
August 26, 2025
The Headlines:
The median home sale price in the Quad Cities metro area was $205,000 in July according to Redfin. This was an increase of 6.8% over the previous year. Nationally, the median home…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
August 19, 2025
The Headlines:
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.2% in July according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This follows an increase of 0.3% in June.…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
August 12, 2025
The Headlines:
Total nonfarm payroll employment in the U.S. increased by 73,000 jobs in July according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which was below expectations. Job growth for May and…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
August 5, 2025
The Headlines:
U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at a 3.0% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the second quarter, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Real GDP…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
July 29, 2025
The Headlines:
The U.S. trade deficit was $71.5 billion in May, up $11.3 billion from April, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The trade deficit for May was slightly below the average…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
July 22, 2025
Last week, we looked back at the first half of 2025 from a national perspective. This week, we consider the evolving outlook for the Quad Cities regional economy and discuss how the outlook for the…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
July 15, 2025
This week, we look back at the economic news of the first half of 2025 and consider how the outlook for the rest of the year may have changed in the last six months. Trade policy seems to have…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
July 8, 2025
The Headlines:
Total nonfarm payroll employment in the U.S. increased by 147,000 in June according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), exceeding expectations. Job growth for April and May was…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
July 1, 2025
The Headlines:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently reported that nonfarm business sector productivity decreased by 1.5% in the first quarter of 2025 (seasonally adjusted annual rate). This…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
June 24, 2025
The Headlines:
Total nonfarm payroll employment in the U.S. increased by 139,000 in May according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), exceeding expectations. April’s number was revised down…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
June 17, 2025
Last week, we reviewed the effects of tariffs in the recent past, particularly the 2018 steel and aluminum tariffs. Studies have found a small but measurable negative effect on employment and GDP…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
June 10, 2025
In recent weeks, tariffs have captured the attention of the world as the Trump administration has imposed several new and expanded taxes on international trade. Some of the announced tariffs have…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
June 3, 2025
The Headlines:
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.2% in April according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This follows a decrease of 0.1% in March.…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
May 27, 2025
The Headline:
The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services increased from a revised $123.2 billion in February to $140.5 billion in March according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
May 19, 2025
The Headlines:
Total nonfarm payroll employment in the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL metropolitan area increased by 200 from a revised 181,500 in February to 181,700 in March on a seasonally…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
May 13, 2025
The Headline:
The Federal Reserve kept the target for the federal funds rate in the range of 4.25 to 4.5% at their meeting last week. While this was the expected outcome, recent data on economic…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
May 6, 2025
The Headline:
The U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter for the first time since 2022. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), real GDP decreased by 0.3% last quarter. The…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
April 29, 2025
The Headline:
The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services increased from $98.1 billion to $130.7 billion in January before decreasing to $122.7 billion in February according to data from the Bureau…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
April 22, 2025
Last week, we pointed out how economic events since the start of this year have contributed to an increase in uncertainty concerning the economic outlook. One of the more visible aspects of that…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
April 15, 2025
Over the last few weeks, the U.S. economy has been buffeted by worrying economic news, financial market volatility and uncertainty over tariff policy. As a result, many analysts have revised their…
The Chamber’s Bill Polley receives Certified Analytics Professional - Expert designation
April 14, 2025
The Chamber congratulates its own Bill Polley, Director of Business Intelligence on his recent certification as a Certified Analytics Professional - Expert (CAP-X). Earners of this badge have met…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
April 8, 2025
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the U.S. economy added 228,000 jobs in March, which was well above expectations of about 140,000. The unemployment rate increased slightly from 4.1%…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
April 2, 2025
The Headlines:
Total nonfarm payroll employment in the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL metropolitan area increased by 300 to 181,600 jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis in February according to…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
March 25, 2025
The Quad Cities region is a diverse economy with a manufacturing sector that contributes much more to economic growth here than on average across the country. However, there is much more to the Quad…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
March 18, 2025
The Headlines:
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.2% in February according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This was the lowest monthly rate of CPI…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
March 11, 2025
The Headlines:
The U.S. economy added 151,000 new jobs in February according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This was lower than expectations. The unemployment rate increased slightly from…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
March 4, 2025
The Headlines:
The median home price in the Quad Cities metro area was $185,500 in the third quarter of 2024 according to a report from the National Association of Realtors. This is an increase of…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
February 25, 2025
The Headlines:
U.S. Industrial Production (IP) increased by 0.5% in January, according to a recent report from the Federal Reserve. Over the last year, IP has increased by 2.0%.
According to the…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
February 18, 2025
The Headline:
Two important reports on inflation were released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) this week. On Wednesday, the BLS reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by a…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
February 11, 2025
The Headline:
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the U.S. economy added 143,000 jobs in January, which was below expectations. The unemployment rate decreased slightly to 4.0%.
Each…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
February 4, 2025
The Headlines:
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.3% in the 4th quarter of 2024. This was down…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
January 28, 2025
Wall Street saw another record last week as the S&P 500 hit a new high last Thursday. Although the markets stumbled briefly on Monday due to concerns about AI in light of China's new "Deepseek"…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
January 21, 2025
The Headlines:
According to the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S. trade deficit increased from $73.6 billion in October (revised) to $78.2 billion in November. This is an…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
January 13, 2025
The Headlines:
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that nonfarm payroll employment rose by 256,000 in December following a revised 212,000 increase in November. The unemployment rate…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
January 7, 2025
The Headlines:
The two most watched measures of inflation rose slightly in November. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 0.3% on a seasonally…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
January 2, 2025
Last week, we looked at the year-in-review from the national perspective. This week, the focus is on the Quad Cities economy. While the national economy had an excellent year, the Quad Cities economy…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
December 27, 2024
As 2024 draws to a close, it is time to look back on the year that was and look forward to 2025. Overall, the national economy performed very well in 2024, and the outlook for 2025 is similarly…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
December 17, 2024
The Headlines:
Nonfarm payroll employment in the U.S. increased by 227,000 jobs in November, according to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In addition, the BLS reported…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
December 10, 2024
Real gross domestic product (GDP) for the six-county Quad Cities Chamber service area increased by 1.3% in 2023 according to recent data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Real GDP is…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
December 3, 2024
The Headlines:
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, distillate fuel consumption is forecasted to be down by about 2% for the 2024 calendar year. The forecast for 2025 is for an…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
November 26, 2024
The Headline:
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.2% in October (seasonally adjusted). The CPI inflation rate for the…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
November 19, 2024
The Headlines:
According to the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S. trade deficit increased from $70.8 billion in August (revised) to $84.4 billion in September. This…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
November 12, 2024
The Headlines:
Nonfarm payroll employment in the U.S. increased by 12,000 jobs in October, according to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This figure, which the report…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
November 5, 2024
The Headlines:
Last Wednesday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), adjusted for inflation, grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.8% in the…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
October 29, 2024
The Headlines:
The Federal Reserve recently reported that industrial production (IP) decreased by 0.3% in September. The decline was mostly due to the strike at Boeing and the effect of two…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
October 22, 2024
The Headlines:
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all urban consumers increased by 0.2% (seasonally adjusted) in September. This was the same rate…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
October 15, 2024
The Headlines:
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), total nonfarm payroll employment in the Quad Cities metro area was approximately 179,700 in August which is down about 2,600 jobs…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
October 8, 2024
The Headline:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported last Friday that U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by a seasonally adjusted 254,000 in September. This was well above expectations of around…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
October 1, 2024
In September, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve voted to decrease the target range for the federal funds rate by ½ percentage point to 4.75 to 5%. Recall that our…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
September 24, 2024
The Headline
Last Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve voted to decrease the target range for the federal funds rate by ½ percentage point to 4.75 to 5%. This…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
September 17, 2024
In the last few weeks, we have focused on the labor market—in particular how the labor market has been slowing recently while still adding jobs at close to the long run trend rate. This week, we turn…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
September 10, 2024
The Headlines:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by a seasonally adjusted 142,000 in August. This was slightly below expectations of around…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
September 3, 2024
The Headline:
The National Association of Realtors recently released their local market report for the first quarter of 2024 for the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island metro area. In the four-county area,…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
August 27, 2024
For the last two weeks, we have considered the risk of recession in the U.S. as well as the effect of recent economic developments on the Quad Cities area. This week, we wrap up that series with a…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
August 21, 2024
Last week, we took a closer look at recent economic events and noted that while the risk of recession is higher than it was a year ago, the U.S. economy remains quite resilient in the face of the…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
August 13, 2024
Two Fridays ago, the main story was the disappointing job growth in July. The financial market reaction was decidedly negative, and many started talking about the possibility of a recession. Was this…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
August 6, 2024
The Headline:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday that U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by a seasonally adjusted 114,000 in July. This was well below expectations of around…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
July 30, 2024
The Headline:
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported last week that real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.8% in the second quarter. This was…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
July 23, 2024
The Headline:
Last week, the Federal Reserve released their monthly data on industrial production and capacity utilization in the U.S. Industrial production increased by 0.6% (seasonally adjusted)…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
July 16, 2024
The Headline:
Two very important data points were released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The Consumer Price Index (CPI) decreased by 0.1% in June (seasonally adjusted). This…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
July 9, 2024
The Headline:
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today that U.S. nonfarm payroll employment increased by 206,000 in June. Expectations were for an increase of about 200,000.…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
July 2, 2024
This week marks the beginning of the second half of 2024, so it makes sense to look back at how the national and local economies have fared compared to expectations at the start of the year. This is…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
June 25, 2024
There were two important data points on manufacturing released recently. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that new orders for manufactured goods in April increased by $4.3 billion or 0.7% to $588.2…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
June 18, 2024
This week we depart from our usual focus on the economic and business headlines to discuss another important component of the local and national economy—education. Regional economic development…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
June 11, 2024
The Headline:
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that U.S. nonfarm payroll employment increased by 272,000 in May. Once again, this was well above expectations. Most analysts…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
June 4, 2024
The Headline:
According to a report from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S. trade deficit in goods and services was essentially unchanged, decreasing 0.1% from…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
May 28, 2024
All three major stock market averages hit new record highs in the month of May as corporate earnings continue to surpass market expectations. Bond yields surged again in April. How do the events of…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
May 21, 2024
The Headline:
Last Wednesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.3% (seasonally adjusted) in April. The index increased by 3.4% over the last…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
May 15, 2024
The Headline:
Earlier this month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased by 0.3% (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the first…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
May 8, 2024
The Headline:
Last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that nonfarm payroll employment increased by 175,000 in April. Also, employment numbers for February and March were reduced…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
April 30, 2024
Real gross domestic product (adjusted for inflation) increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.6% in the first quarter of 2024 according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This was down…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
April 23, 2024
As we pointed out last week, inflation continues to be the most pressing issue for economic policymakers right now. The lack of progress on inflation is beginning to have a significant impact on the…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
April 16, 2024
The Headline:
Two important data points on inflation were released last week. Last Wednesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by a…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
April 9, 2024
The Headline:
Last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that nonfarm payroll employment increased by 303,000 in March. As it has been in the last few months, the monthly job gains…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
April 2, 2024
The Headline:
The National Association of Realtors recently released their local market report for the fourth quarter of 2023 for the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island metro area. In the four-county…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
March 27, 2024
The Headlines:
Conflicting readings on inflation are making the Federal Reserve’s decision on when to cut interest rates more difficult. The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.4% in February and 3.2%…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
March 19, 2024
The National Headline:
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), total nonfarm payroll employment in the U.S. increased by 275,000 in February. The national unemployment rate increased from…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
March 12, 2024
The National Headline:
The U.S. trade deficit increased by about $3.3 billion, on a seasonally adjusted basis (about 5.1%) in January moving from $64.2 billion to $67.4 billion. Exports were…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
March 5, 2024
This week we depart from the usual news headline-oriented topics to take a deeper dive into some background data on the Quad Cities region. The data featured this week can be found on the Chamber’s…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
February 27, 2024
The Headline:
Earlier this month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased by a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.2% in the fourth…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
February 20, 2024
Last week we discussed the stock market which has seen record high levels in recent days. This week, the focus stays on the financial markets with an examination of recent activity in the bond…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
February 13, 2024
On Friday, the S&P 500 stock index closed above 5,000 for the first time in its history. This is the latest in a series of record high levels for all three of the major stock indexes (Dow, S&P and…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
February 6, 2024
The Headline:
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that nonfarm payroll employment increased by 353,000 in January. This was well above expectations as most expected under…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
January 30, 2024
The Headline:
On Thursday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 3.3 percent (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the 4th quarter of…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
January 23, 2024
The Headline:
The Federal Reserve reported that industrial production in the United States rose 0.1% in December, beating estimates of a 0.1% decline. Capacity utilization was unchanged at…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
January 16, 2024
The Headline:
On Thursday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in December. The BLS also announced on…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
January 9, 2024
The Headline:
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that nonfarm payroll employment increased by 216,000 in December. Unemployment was unchanged at 3.7%, and the labor force…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
January 2, 2024
This week we look back at the economic and business news of 2023 both locally and nationally. Certainly, one of the most significant stories of 2023 was what didn’t happen. There was not a recession…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
December 19, 2023
Real gross domestic product (GDP) for the six-county Quad Cities Chamber service area was unchanged in 2022 according to recent data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Real GDP is…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
December 13, 2023
The Headline:
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that payroll employment increased by 199,000 in the U.S. in November. The unemployment rate decreased 3.9 percent to 3.7…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
December 5, 2023
The Headline:
Last week, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) announced that real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 5.2% in the third quarter. This is revised upward from…
Return to lower inflation and more normal financial market conditions predicted for 2024
December 1, 2023
Price stability equals corporate and investment visibility, said Kevin Depew, RSM Deputy Chief Economist.
Depew was the keynote speaker at the Quad Cities Chamber’s Economic Forecast and provided an…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
November 28, 2023
As we move into the winter heating season and look forward to next year, many people wonder about the expected future path of energy prices. Some of the most cited indicators are the price of…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
November 21, 2023
The Headline:
Last week the market received a slew of information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on inflation, and the news was good all the way around. The consumer price index (CPI) was…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
November 14, 2023
The Headline:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released local labor market statistics for the month of September. For the Quad Cities metro area, the civilian labor force was 191,400 (up 500…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
November 7, 2023
The Headline:
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that nonfarm payroll employment increased by 150,000 in October. This was somewhat below expectations and well below the…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
October 31, 2023
The Headline:
Last Thursday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that 3rd quarter gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annual rate of 4.9 percent after adjusting for inflation. On…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
October 24, 2023
Last week, we featured manufacturing employment in the Quad Cities area. This week, we continue our manufacturing month focus to highlight manufacturing’s overall contribution to the region’s…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
October 16, 2023
In recognition of manufacturing month, we will feature data on manufacturing this week and next. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) classifies most manufacturing jobs as “production occupations”…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
October 10, 2023
The Headline:
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that nonfarm payrolls in the U.S. increased by 336,000 jobs in September—well above the expectations of most analysts. Also of…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
October 2, 2023
The Headline:
According to the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S. trade deficit increased from $63.7 billion in June (revised) to $65.0 billion in July. This represents an…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
September 26, 2023
The financial markets stumbled last week as participants tried to digest the stream of economic data as well as the words of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at his press conference following the…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
September 20, 2023
If you feel like the price of gasoline has been rising lately, it is not your imagination. After spending most of the past nine months in a fairly tight range, U.S. retail gasoline prices broke out…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
September 13, 2023
This week, we examine recent trends in economic activity in some key sectors of the Quad Cities economy. Specifically, we are looking at 2021 regional gross domestic product (GDP) disaggregated at…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
September 5, 2023
Last week was a busy week for national economic data with updated numbers for inflation, job openings, and employment. In addition, Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell delivered a much awaited…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
August 29, 2023
This week we examine recent wage data for the Quad Cities area. In July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, (BLS) released the annual report on occupational employment and wages for May 2022. (This…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
August 22, 2023
The Headline:
Job growth cooled slightly in the Quad Cities in July, according to the latest from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Preliminary data shows 184,700 total nonfarm jobs last month.…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
August 15, 2023
The Headline:
According to the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S. trade deficit decreased from $68.3 billion in May to $65.5 billion in June. This represents a decrease of…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
August 8, 2023
The Headline:
On August 4, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that nonfarm payrolls increased by 187,000 in July. This was somewhat lower than expected. In addition, June nonfarm payroll…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
August 1, 2023
The Headline:
On July 26, the Federal Open Market Committee (policy making arm of the Federal Reserve) raised the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points. The target range now…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
July 25, 2023
The Headline:
On July 12, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2% in June (seasonally adjusted). In May, the CPI increased by 0.4%. The last two months…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
July 21, 2023
The Headline:
On July 7, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that payrolls increased by 209,000 nationwide during the month of June, and the unemployment rate decreased slightly to 3.6%.…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
July 4, 2023
The Headline:
Recently, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released employment numbers for the Quad Cities metro area for the month of May. In the household survey, the labor force increased by…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
June 20, 2023
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week that the consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.1% in May (seasonally adjusted). This is down from a 0.4% increase in April. The seasonally unadjusted…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
June 12, 2023
The Headline:
The Census Bureau reported last week that manufacturers’ new orders increased 0.4% in April. This was the fourth increase in the last five months, coming on the heels of a 0.6%…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
June 5, 2023
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators The Headline:
On Friday, June 2, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the U.S. economy added 339,000 jobs during the month of May. In addition,…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
May 31, 2023
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators Last week, we examined the recent history of economic growth in the Quad Cities area. This week, we take a historical perspective on the local labor market. By…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
May 22, 2023
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators The Headline:
This week, we look at the recent history of economic growth in the Quad Cities area. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the most widely cited…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
May 15, 2023
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators The Headline:
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI) increased by 0.4% on a seasonally…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
May 8, 2023
The Headline:
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. economy added a net 253,000 jobs in April as the unemployment rate remained essentially unchanged, moving from 3.5% down to 3.4%.…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
May 1, 2023
The Headline:
Gross domestic product (GDP) increased at a 1.1% annual rate after adjusting for inflation during the first quarter of 2023, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. As expected,…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
April 17, 2023
This is the second in a series of articles highlighting features of the Quad Cities economy. The topic this week is the structure of employment in the Quad Cities metro area. The Bureau of Labor…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
April 10, 2023
The Headline:
On April 7, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released monthly employment data for March. According to the establishment survey, employment increased by 236,000 jobs. This was on…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
March 31, 2023
We depart from the normal format this week to begin a series of occasional articles on the economic characteristics of the Quad Cities area. This first installment will focus on real gross domestic…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
March 24, 2023
The Headline:
Employment in the Quad Cities Metropolitan Statistical Area increased by about 1% from February 2022 to February 2023 according to the establishment survey by the Bureau of Labor…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
March 17, 2023
The Headline:
On March 10, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a key player in the world of start-up financing, failed due to a run on its deposits. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) stepped…
Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators
March 10, 2023
The Headline
The U.S. trade deficit increased by about $1 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis (about 1.6%) in January, moving from $67.2 billion to $68.3 billion. Exports jumped by 3.4% from…
Weekly Economic Trends & Indicators
March 3, 2023
The Headline
Wage growth slowed for the third consecutive month in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Average earnings across all private (non-government) occupations were $33.03…
Weekly Economic Trends & Indicators
February 24, 2023
weekly-economic-trends-indicators-feb-24-2023 The Headline
A report this week by the real estate firm Redfin stated that the total value of U.S. homes fell by $2.3 trillion from June to December…
Weekly Economic Trends & Indicators
February 17, 2023
The Headline
Inflation continues to be a stubborn problem for the U.S. economy. This week saw two important data releases from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). On Tuesday, the BLS announced…
Weekly Economic Trends & Indicators
February 10, 2023
The Headline
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), nonfarm business sector productivity in the U.S. increased 3.0% in the fourth quarter of 2022. For the year, average productivity…
Weekly Economic Trends & Indicators
February 8, 2023
The Headline
On Feb. 1, the Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate (which is the rate at which banks borrow from and lend to each other) by 25 basis points. The target range for the fed funds…