PHILADELPHIA—Nationally syndicated host and biblical investing authority Dan Celia discussed the potential effects of the new Covid variant on the retail market, as well as the unemployment rate for November.
Celia stated, “We’ve got a lot of economic data coming out this week as we head into the last month of the quarter. Of course, we’re coming off retail sales from Black Friday shopping, and in-store numbers dropped 28% from their pre-pandemic levels. This shows that Americans are continuing to stay home, yet we still saw all the retail analysts talking about record-breaking retail sales numbers. Everybody’s still living in an alternate universe, thinking that things are far better than they are and still believing everything the government is telling them.
“Of course, one of the biggest concerns right now is the new Covid variant coming out of South Africa. Fauci says America should be prepared to do anything and everything necessary to fight it—even by allowing pharmaceutical companies to make billions of dollars this month alone. We’re going to have variant after variant of Covid because it will probably be with us for all of time. This new variant is going to keep people home even more, which is not going to make for a very good shopping season.”
Celia continued, “This week, we get the unemployment rate for November, which is probably sitting at about four-point-five percent. The IMS service sector number is expected to drop a bit. I think it’s going to drop more than one percent. They’re predicting that number to go down to 65, but I’d be surprised if that’s all it is. We’ll see how it shakes out. But I think the vast majority of the sentiment in the markets, not just the economy, is going to be negative.”
Celia discusses these and other global and economic headlines on his daily, three-hour “Financial Issues” program, heard on more than 660 radio stations and several television networks nationwide, including FISM.TV, viewed on several post-cable television platforms and online.
Read more about Celia, FISM and “Financial Issues” or visit the FISM website, its Facebook page, on YouTube at Financial Issues with Dan Celia or on Twitter @financialissues; download the FISM app here.
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