10/28/2019
By Charles Payne, CEO & Principal Analyst

Even news organizations, which have dismissed the economy and stoked fears of a recession, have had to admit the American Consumer is ebullient. Bloomberg writes about impending doom and dismisses everything from corporate earnings and movement on the Chinese trade negotiations. However, their own ‘Buying Climax Index’ is at an all-time high.

The financial media will continue to focus on the negativity, real or imagined, so investors must make it their business to seek out sources of information rather than an interpretation of events and reports.

It’s All About the Benjamins, Baby

With job openings around seven million, and blue-collar wages soaring, I expect the so-called “skills gap” will continue; they are most prevalent in what experts call soft skills: coming to work on time, being pleasant, and being committed.

This problem was underscored this week with the release of the Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Report.  Here are the major complaints from several respondents:

“Business is good, having trouble finding people.”

“Still looking for qualified workers that show up and stay a full day.”

“Because of the shortage with labor we have been working more overtime.”

It is for the reasons outlined above that I suspect the year-over-year wage growth for blue-collar workers will reach 4.0% in 2020.

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Charles Payne
Wall Street Strategies

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