A new funding option is in the future for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United Kingdom. New laws put forward by Small Business Minister Kelly Tolhurst this week will "make it easier for small businesses to access invoice financing," according to a release from the government. This will in turn provide a one-billion-pound boost t...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyA Fed Without Ammunition There are many reasons the central bank chooses to hike rates. Controlling inflation is at the top of that list, but it isn't always the most important. The critics of the Federal Reserve (including Trump) have tended to focus on the short-term impact of these higher rates as they will si...

No matter the size of the business, job growth spiraled in August across the U.S., where hiring plummeted by roughly 54,000 jobs compared to the prior month. According to a Sept. 10 report by payroll service provider ADP, only 163,000 jobs were added in August, falling well below the 206,000 monthly average and the 217,000 added in July.Despite des...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyService Sector Growth and Angst The latest survey of the service community by the Institute for Supply Management is more than a little encouraging with numbers that rival those that came out in the manufacturing version. They went from 55.7 to 58.5. That would seem to suggest all was well within these communitie...

Employment in the residential construction industry remains stable, sitting at 3.9% this August, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Jobs increased by 201,000, and employment in residential construction continued to trend upward.The number of unemployed persons decreased by a total of 46,000, yet the number of employed pe...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyRise in Productivity Later in this issue, there is an article that goes into the issue of why there has not been much of a wage hike given that there is a very low unemployment rate. It has been noted in the past that a low rate usually translates into higher wages, but not this time. One of the reasons for the s...

Knowing when and where to start implementing new technology is tricky for any business. Costs and complications alone often steer businesses away from the latest advancements, but some experts believe electronic invoicing adoption is one of the best stepping stones for a gradual transition into 21st century technology.According to professional serv...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyBig Jump in Trade Deficit—Few Are Surprised Some certainly think trade activity is simple enough to figure out, but the reality is few issues are as complicated. Through the bulk of this year, the Trump approach to dealing with trade has been to demand concessions from trading partners and to use the U.S. market ...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyPlaying Hardball with CanadaThe U.S. has taken a very hard-line approach to China when it comes to tariffs and trade. Much of this attitude is understandable given the fact that China has flouted almost every trade rule there is and maintains a very hostile position towards the U.S. on many political and military...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyCanada Pact Near? By most accounts, the U.S. and Canada are close to reaching a deal that will continue the connection between the three nations of North America (regardless of what it gets called). The interesting thing about the pact that has been proposed with Mexico and the ideas that seem to be swirling arou...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyReworked NAFTA Goes to the Legislators Given all the fulminations and hoopla that has surrounded the trade pacts like NAFTA, it would be forgiven if people really thought these are things President Trump can bring into the world or take away with the stroke of a pen. Once a deal is made, the next step is to turn ...

NACM's Credit Managers' Index (CMI) turned a corner as the summer comes to a close, showing positive readings for the first time in two months. These higher readings show signs of stability for the near future, though the stability may not last with the threat of inflation and on-going trade wars.The combined CMI score for August went up by 0.3 poi...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomySlump in Car Sales Has Arrived There have been predictions for many years now that suggest the end of the vehicle purchase boom. Those headwinds would range from consumers with no credit standing, lack of desire for new cars, changing patterns of transportation and so on. These are still issues that are in play, ...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomySome Odd Signs of a Strong Economy There has been a very low level of unemployment for some. That starts to have an impact on certain sectors of the economy after a while. The fact is many jobs are not all that popular and will not draw applicants until there are far too many people for the supply of good jobs. R...

When credit managers are extending lines of credit, the size of their customers' business is a factor to weigh in the decision-making process. Just because a business is small doesn't mean it will never get credit, but both parties have to remain more alert. On Aug. 27, global fintech company Tide explained how micro-SMBs (small- to medium-sized bu...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. EconomyLining Up Behind the Chair For the most part, the Fed is a body that rules by consensus. The members of the Open Market Committee are the permanent members of the Board of Governors plus four of the regional heads of the Fed that rotate on and off the FOMC on an annual basis. The Chair represents the views of the...

China and the U.S. have entered the second day of trade talks with hopes to smooth over an uncertainty left behind the potential tariffs on imported goods.As of Aug. 23, both economies have proposed tariffs on imported goods worth about $16 billion. This will make the total value of Chinese goods affected by the Trump administration $100 billion, f...

Short Items of Interest—US EconomyNear Universal Call for Higher Rates So much for the reaction to Trump's displeasure with the Federal Reserve. In the last few weeks he has become vocal about his opposition to the Fed's stated intent to hike rates. He would not be the first president to object to the Fed playing its traditional role of party poope...

Short Items of Interest—U.S. Economy How Will Fed Wind Down Portfolio? We know just a few things about the Fed's intent. We know they have decided to start exiting their $4.5 trillion position of mortgage-backed securities (MBSs) and Treasury bills. We know they want to get rid of most of the MBSs and remain in the T-bill market. How this is to acc...

In some way, shape or form, artificial intelligence (AI) is making a name for itself in the business community. The construction industry is no exception as recently seen in the United Kingdom, where a $4.5 million investment will fund a software company's latest technological endeavor to create real-world simulations of infrastructure projects.Sta...