Daily News 12/18/14

December 18, 2014

Thursday – December 18

The Federal Reserve Bank of the U.S. held its final meeting of the year yesterday in Washington, D.C. and coined a new phrase of “can be patient in beginning” regarding raising short term interest rates next year. The current time frame for higher rates from economists are expected to come in the middle of 2015 and may even come later in the year, if the economy slows a bit. The news sent U.S. Stock markets soaring and are trading higher again on today.

Americans filing for first time unemployment benefits declined in the latest week signaling that the job market continues to recover. The Labor Department reported that Weekly Initial Jobless Claims fell by 6,000 to 289,000, the lowest level since late October. U.S. companies continue to cut fewer jobs as the economy expands and as hiring has ramped up. At yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting the members raised their outlook on the labor and expects full employment in 2015.

With the holiday shopping season well underway, the National Federation of Retailers (NRF) reported on Wednesday that the average holiday shopper has completed nearly 53% of their shopping as of December 10. The NRF further reported that nearly one-third of shoppers plan to buy their last holiday gift before Thursday, December 18, 14.5% will finish up on super Saturday, the Saturday before Christmas (12/20), while 9% will wait until the last minute. It is reported that more men than women will wait until Christmas Eve to buy their last gifts.