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MYB: 'Super Bowl of economic data' to be released this week
Christine Romans looks at key economic reports to release this week regarding the economic health of the U.S., including:
Monday: Durable Goods
Tuesday: Case-Shiller 20-City Index and Consumer Confidence
Wednesday: Federal Reserve Minutes and 4Q GDP Estimate
Friday: Unemployment rate
Will these reports show a strengthening economy? Check out the video above.
MYB: Economic bars set by the Federal Reserve
U.S. stock futures are down slightly this morning after closing mixed yesterday. The big announcement from the Federal Reserve is driving the markets right now. Christine Romans is minding your business this morning with the latest.
Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, set very clear bars yesterday about "what the Fed is doing and what it will do” regarding stimulus measures and more. “They say they’re gonna keep helping the economy until the national jobless rate falls to 6.5%,” Romans reports. “And they’re setting an inflation limit of 2.5%.” Setting these explicit bars is “new territory for the Fed,” she adds.
Romans also reports Bernanke warning, however, “that all of these Herculean measures from the Fed would not be enough to undo the fiscal cliff.”
"Workampers" filling temporary jobs for Amazon.com; CNN's Casey Wian reports on these 'affluent homeless'
A growing number of Americans today are continuously traveling around the country for work, especially during the holiday season. These nomadic workers of sorts are called “workampers”, and they’ve became a vital part of the workforce at a giant Amazon.com warehouse in Nevada. Casey Wian has that story.
He follows Kellie and Walt Gunn as they drive to the company's massive customer fulfillment center, 30 miles outside Reno, Nevada. They call themselves "affluent homeless." Always on the road and living in an RV, these so-called workampers are two of “hundreds of thousands of semi-retired Americans...now traveling from seasonal job-to-job,” Wian reports. “At this Amazon warehouse, 250 workampers earn about $12 an hour, plus bonuses and overtime.”
"It's far more economical to live this way than it is in a stick house," Kellie says. “We don't spend near as much as we did when we were in a stick house. Just insurance alone and taxes on property and so forth,” Walt adds.
“This year, Amazon is hiring 50,000 seasonal workers at its 40 fulfillment centers nationwide,” Wian says. “Eleven hundred of them are Workampers…A small, but growing number of workampers are younger, forced out of jobs by the recession."
“With the economy the way it is, they have to work,” Walt says. “Well they're too young for Social Security, so they have no retirement,” Kellie adds. “When the economy dropped, they pretty much lost everything that they had. And so now they go from job to job."
Reports on housing, GDP, manufacturing offer US economic health check this week – Christine Romans explains
Christine Romans on housing, GDP, manufacturing reports expected this week, and what it could mean for the US economy.
The end of 'Cyber Monday'? Brand strategist Peter Shankman on why the term is becoming outdated
Black Friday marked a record start for the shopping season. According to the National Retail Federatiom, 247 million shoppers visited stores and websites over the holiday weekend. More may be joining the ranks today on a day dubbed Cyber Monday, the day online retailers typically offer deals after the four day weekend. But online deals started almost a week earlier as Cyber Monday deals are no longer just for Monday, and consumers have caught on.
Peter Shankman, branding strategist and the author of "Can We Do That?", joins the "Early Start” team with details on record holiday sales and why Cyber Monday may soon be a thing of the past.
Housing a bright spot in economy – Christine Romans explains
CNN's Christine Romans looks at latest news on existing home sales and median home prices, showing momentum in housing market.
President Obama to meet with US business leaders to talk jobs, debt – Ali Velshi explains
Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday delivered a "strong" and "determined" defense of his intent to allow Bush-era tax cuts for wealthier Americans to expire while preserving cuts for middle-income earners, according to conversations with several people who attended a meeting between the president and labor and progressive leaders.
The meeting at the White House - along with a second unannounced meeting with representatives from roughly a dozen groups focused on women's issues - was the start of a lengthy process of negotiating a resolution to the nation's impending budget crisis.
Obama is scheduled to meet with business leaders on Wednesday and congressional leaders from both parties on Friday. They include:
* Mark Bertolini, President, Chairman and CEO, Aetna
* Ursula Burns, Chairman and CEO, Xerox
* Kenneth I. Chenault, Chairman and CEO, American Express
* David Cote, Chairman and CEO, Honeywell
* Mike Duke, President and CEO, Walmart
* Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO, General Electric
* Andrew Liveris, President, Chairman and CEO, Dow
* Robert McDonald, President and CEO, Proctor & Gamble
* Alan Mulally, President and CEO, Ford
* Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo.
* Ginni Rometty, President, Chairman and CEO, IBM
* John Watson, Chairman and CEO, Chevron
This morning on "Early Start," Ali Velshi explains how these business leaders could contribute to helping the U.S. economy.
READ MORE: Obama tells labor he's committed to 'protecting' middle class on taxes
CBO: US could dive over 'fiscal cliff,' may improve debt outlook but cause recession
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) - If the so-called fiscal cliff takes effect in 2013, the U.S. deficit outlook will improve, but scheduled tax increases and spending cuts would push the country into recession and unemployment up to 9%.
That's one of the main takeaways from an analysis Wednesday by the Congressional Budget Office, which released its updated budget and economic projections for 2012 through 2022.
The fiscal cliff is made up of an enormous amount of tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect starting in 2013.
Among them, the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and the enactment of $1 trillion in automatic, across the board spending cuts that are being triggered because Congress has failed to come up with an alternative debt-reduction plan. If all the policies are allowed to go into effect, the CBO projects that the economy, as measured by GDP, will shrink by 0.5% between the fourth quarter of this year and the fourth quarter of next year. Unemployment, currently 8.3%, will rise to 9% in the second half of 2013.
This morning on "Early Start," Christine Romans explains the CBO report and it's dire warnings for the US economy.
READ MORE: Fiscal cliff to improve debt outlook but cause recession
Stocks up strongly in 2012 – Christine Romans looks ahead to this week's Federal Reserve and housing news
Christine Romans on market gains this year, and a preview of economic indicators from the Fed and housing info.
Is the jobs recovery favoring single workers? Poppy Harlow explains
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) - As the economy slowly recovers, single people are finding jobs much faster than their married peers.
Single men and women lost about 5 million jobs during the financial crisis, and have since gained back 90% of them, according to the Labor Department. That's not too shabby, especially considering the jobs recovery has been so slow.
But married people, who make up a slightly larger part of the adult population, lost even more jobs and have gained far fewer back. Of the 6 million jobs they lost, they've recouped only about 22%.
Could employers be favoring single workers? Poppy Harlow breaks down the report on "Early Start" this morning.
Read more on "Why the jobs recovery favors single workers"
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