Business Activity Pumps U.S. Economy Amid Global Slowdown
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What news leads the Money Briefing for November 25th, 2019?
Here's your money briefing for Monday, November 25th. I'm J.R. Whelan at The Wall Street Journal in New York. Economists warn the global economy may not get back on track for another two years. But don't blame the United States. We'll check in with a Wall Street Journal reporter to find out what surprised economists about the U.S. economy. First, some money and market news you should know. The U.S. Census Bureau says Latino women earn 46% less than white men and 31% less than white women. That's the largest wage gap for any group of minority women. And a study by McKinsey & Company and Lean In finds that just 68 Latinas are promoted into a management role for every 100 men promoted overall. Rachel Thomas, CEO of the Sheryl Sandberg and Dave Goldberg Family Foundation, told the Wall Street Journal's Women in the Workplace Forum last week that closing the Latina pay gap would result in an additional $1 million in earnings over the course of a Latina woman's career.
The numbers aren't much better for other minority women. The Census Bureau says black women earn 39% less than white men, while Native American women earn 42% less. The Walt Disney Company wants to be sure fans of Frozen 2 aren't frozen out of finding the perfect gift. Six years ago, after the release of the original Frozen, Disney marketing executives were caught off guard by the overwhelming popularity of toys and clothing based on the main characters Elsa and Anna. This time around, Disney has allocated the license to more partners, branched out into new categories like technology, and it's targeting older fans through retail outlets like fashion accessories chained Claire's. And Hasbro, which has rights to make Frozen 2 toys, has rushed merchandise to U.S.
store shelves to meet demand.
The U.S. economy is proving to be a diamond in the rough. As the global economy continues to struggle, business activity in the U.S. is showing signs of a rebound. And Wall Street Journal reporter Paul Hannon joins us to discuss.
How large are wage gaps affecting Latina and other minority women?
So, Paul, what was it about U.S. business activity that's giving economists optimism?
surveys of businesses, the purchasing managers who buy all the things that businesses need to be able to make their goods or provide their services, detected a pickup in activity, a surprisingly strong pickup in activity during November. And that has sort of eased fears that the U.S. economy was slowing more sharply than it has been to date.
And the business activity is picking up. It's still at levels below recent years, isn't it?
It's not a strong, a very strong economy by any means. But what it is, is a stronger economy than Europe, Japan and most of the rest of the world right now. And that, you know, is obviously something to hold on to. The same things that are holding back the rest of the world economy appear to be holding back the US. That is to say, this great uncertainty about how the The trade relationship with China is going to work out in the future is worrying manufacturers in particular, and they're holding back on investment spending.
Now, the trade issues between the U.S. and China, is that a major factor that contributes to economic groups saying they don't think that the global economy is going to make significant moves forward until 2021?
I think that's the case. You know, there is some progress or the appearance of progress towards what's called a phase one deal between the US and China that might deal with some of the issues on the surface. But a lot of people who look at these issues think that there is much, much more work to be done in coming years to really solve the underlying stresses that have driven this particular dispute over the last 18 months. So nobody really expects all this uncertainty that's spooking businesses around the world to suddenly disappear, even if there is a short-term trade deal to be announced in the next few weeks or months.
And what did European central bank head Christine Lagarde say about the global economy?
She has been, until now, the head of the International Monetary Fund, and that looks at how the global economy is performing.
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