United States: Omicron Absenteeism Poses Fresh Test to U.S. Economic Strength “With the omicron wave of the pandemic rapidly spreading across the U.S., the robust economic recovery is facing a new threat that policymakers have little control over: people calling in sick.” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-09/omicron-absenteeism-poses-fresh-test-to-u-s-economic-strength?srnd=economics-vp Europe: Europe Fears Economic HitIf Russia Is Sanctioned Heavily “Concern among some

United States: Normalizing But Not Back to Normal: The U.S. Job Market in 2022 “The mixed picture of the U.S. labor market that emerged in 2021 isn’t going anywhere this year.  While the unemployment rate has been falling for months, the labor force participation rate has barely budged. Wages are rising, but not enough to

Brent Oil Brent oil prices increased by 3.37% or US$2.67 relative to the prior week. Oil traded on January 6, 2022, at US$81.99 per barrel relative to US$79.32 on December 30, 2021. Brent oil opened 2022 year at US$78.98 per barrel. Petrojam prices 87 Octane prices increased by 1.47% (JMD$2.42) and 90 Octane increased by

United States: Fed Leaves Gradualism Behind With Urgency on Rates, Assets “Federal Reserve officials are preparing to move quicker than the last time they tightened monetary policy in a bid to keep the U.S. economy from overheating amid high inflation and near-full employment. Prospects for another year of growth above the economy’s speed limit with

January 5, 2022 According to the Bank of Jamaica, the net currency issued to financial institutions (commercial banks, building societies and cambios) during the last 10 working days of December 2021 totaled $12 billion. It was noted that, “the issue for the period contributed to an overall growth of $22.5 billion or 11% in the