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New Trade Pacts Confirmed, Tariff Changes Delayed to Aug. 1

William Attardi on July 7, 2025

US negotiators have reached new trade agreements with several nations, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent each said Sunday, adding that President Donald Trump has moved the start date for all tariff changes from Wednesday to August 1 to provide additional negotiating time with more countries. Countries without a deal by then will see tariffs return to April 2 levels, Lutnick and Bessent said. Lutnick Says Trump’s Tariffs Will Take Effect on Aug. 1 – Bloomberg

US Labor Market Remains Resilient, Unemployment Rate Falls

William Attardi on July 3, 2025

The job gains were significantly larger than expected and the unemployment rate ticked down in May. S. employers added 147,000 jobs in June and beat economists’ expectations of fewer than 118,000 new jobs as the American labor market continues to show surprising resilience despite uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s economic policies. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1% from 4.2% in May, the Labor Department said Thursday. US Labor Market Remains Resilient, Unemployment Rate Falls – tEDmag

Trump Policies Will Cut Deficits Up to $11 Trillion, White House Economist Says by Skylar Woodhouse

William Attardi on June 26, 2025

President Donald Trump’s policies will reduce US fiscal deficits by up to $11 trillion over the coming decade, according to the White House’s chief economist Stephen Miran, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers— a projection that defies analysts who say government debt is poised to climb to record highs in coming years. About half the savings, or $3 trillion to $5 trillion, would come from faster economic growth — thanks to the pending Republican tax cut bill, along with deregulation efforts — Miran argued. He also cited a $3 trillion bump in revenues from Trump’s tariff hikes, referring reporters to the Congressional Budget Office’s recent calculation — which came in at $2.8 trillion. Reduced debt loads thanks in part to those savings will help to bring down the US Treasury’s interest costs by approximately $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion, he said.  “Those are very big numbers.”  Trump Policies Will Cut Deficits Up to $11 Trillion, White House Economist Says

Electrical Wholesaling’s 2025 Top 100 Electrical Distributors by Jim Lucy

William Attardi on June 9, 2025

Top 100 distributors are divided over the direction of the 2025 economy, but they are still making major capital investments in their companies to position them for growth. It’s tough to pinpoint exactly why Top 100 distributors are all over the map with their economic expectations, especially when outside of the uncertainty over tariffs and concern over the size of the national debt, the overall U.S. economy is still growing at a steady if unspectacular rate.  Unemployment is currently not growing at a dangerous rate, inflation has not hit the danger zone, and while the expected real GDP growth rate of less than 2% for Q2 2025 will elicit plenty of yawns, it’s still expected to land on the positive side of the ledger for this quarter. The Top 10:

  1. Wesco International
  2. Sonepar USA Holdings Inc.
  3. Graybar Electric Co.
  4. Rexel Holdings (Rexel USA)
  5. CED
  6. Border States Electric
  7. City Electric Supply Co.
  8. Elliott Electric Supply Inc.
  9. McNaughton-McKay Electric Co.
  10. S. Electrical Services

Electrical Wholesaling’s 2025 Top 100 Electrical Distributors | Electrical Wholesaling

US Inflation Gauge Cools with Little Sign of Tariff Impact, So Far

William Attardi on May 30, 2025

A key U.S. inflation gauge slowed last month as President Donald Trump’s tariffs have yet to noticeably push up prices. Friday’s report from the Commerce Department showed that consumer prices rose just 2.1% in April compared with a year earlier, down from 2.3% in March and the lowest since September. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.5% from a year earlier, below the March figure of 2.7%, and the lowest in more than four years. Economists track core prices because they typically provide a better read on where inflation is headed.  US Inflation Gauge Cools With Little Sign of Tariff Impact, So Far – tEDmag

 

What Are Stablecoins and How Do They Work?

Stablecoins are less volatile than other cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin) and due to crypto assets’ inherent instability, stablecoins are growing in popularity with both crypto and traditional markets. Stablecoins are a type of crypto asset, but one that offers a way to bridge the gap between fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar and cryptocurrencies. Because they are price-stable digital assets that behave like fiat but maintain the mobility and utility of cryptocurrency, stablecoins are a novel solution to crypto volatility: price stability is built directly into the assets themselves.  There are four primary stablecoin types, identifiable by their underlying collateral structure: fiat-backed, crypto-backed, commodity-backed, and algorithmic stablecoins.  What Are Stablecoins and How Do They Work? | Gemini