Community banks have had a challenging year; it’s been unlike anything our nation has experienced in the past century. Small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), which are among community banks’ bread and butter, have suffered record job losses and closures. Between the March 13 COVID-19 emergency declaration and mid-April, total private...

The U.S. Census Bureau recently released data on estimated retail and food services sales for the month of September. Estimated numbers are based on early reports from a small sampling of companies selected from the larger Monthly Retail Trade Survey (MRTS) sample. You can view the Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services,...

Final results from phase two of the Census Bureau’s Small Business Pulse Survey were released last week, offering new first-hand perspectives on how the pandemic is impacting businesses. Participating businesses must be non-farm, single-location businesses and must have receipts greater than or equal to $1,000, and 500 employees or fewer.

Barlow Research Associates is probably the most well-known, and certainly the most accomplished, banking research company, especially with regard to gathering insights on how businesses view their banks.

September saw NFL and college football starting to come back to life, bringing a much-needed boost to many people’s spirits as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. Along with many other Americans, I spent last weekend cheering on the guys from my fantasy football team. 

In addition to millions of people becoming ill, the COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching consequences for our economy. We’ve seen millions of job losses. Businesses have watched their profits plummet, leading some to close permanently. The stock market has experienced dizzying volatility. A key contributor to the economic impacts has...

The latest jobs report from the Department of Labor (DOL) showed that for the week ending September 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 870,000. This marks an uptick of 4,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level (Sept. 12) was revised up by 6,000 from 860,000 to...

The Census Bureau released the Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services, August 2020 report last week. Adjusted for seasonal variations, advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for August 2020 were $537.5 billion. That’s an increase of 0.6 percent from July and a 2.6 percent boost versus August of last year....

Remember those commercials for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups where the actors would collide into one another and lament, “Hey, you got your chocolate in my peanut butter!” “You got your peanut butter on my chocolate!”? The premise of the ad campaign was of course that, while the combination of these two ingredients happened by accident, the...

The U.S. Census Bureau recently released the selected services estimates for the second quarter of 2020. The survey revealed that total revenue for the second quarter of 2020 (seasonally adjusted, but not adjusted for price changes) was $3,650.4 billion. That’s down 9.1 percent as compared to first quarter of 2020 and down 9.3 percent...