The US economy stalled in recent weeks, with hiring and inflation slowing and access to credit narrowing, the Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book survey of regional business contacts. "Overall economic activity was little changed in recent weeks," the Fed said in the report, published two weeks before each meeting of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee. "Several districts noted that banks tightened lending standards amid increased uncertainty and concerns about liquidity. Overall price levels rose moderately during this reporting period, though the rate of price increases appeared to be slowing."

In this episode of The Higher Standard, Chris and Saied examine this news and determine the effect it will have on the economy as a whole.

They discuss a recent survey from LendingTree Inc., indicating that US consumers are increasingly using installment loans to pay for everyday items like groceries, highlighting the financial pain wrought by the worst inflation outbreak in four decades.

Chris and Saied look at Meta’s latest round of job cuts, as employees with technical backgrounds like user experience, software engineering, graphics programming are being let go.

They also offer some thoughts on earnings season, demystifying some of the terminology and concepts that get tossed about so that you can better understand what earnings reports mean for you and the economy.

Join Chris and Saied for this fascinating and informative conversation.

Enjoy!

What You’ll Learn in this Show:

• How credit is being impacted by the stalling US economy.
• The Federal Reserve's Beige Book: What it is and why it matters.
• The rise of 'buy now, pay later' services, and the negative impact they're having on consumers.
• The continued rash of layoffs in the tech sector - and soon, the banking sector as well.
• And so much more...

Resources:

"US Economy Stalls as Credit Narrows, Fed’s Beige Book Says" (Bloomberg)

"Americans Go Deeper Into Debt as They Use Buy Now, Pay Later Apps for Groceries" (Bloomberg)

"More US consumers are falling behind on payments" (Yahoo! Finance)

"Meta has started its latest round of layoffs, focusing on technical employees" (CNBC)