On Thursday, July 22nd, the Labor Department released the new jobless claims for the week ending July 17th, which saw an unexpected surge, according to MarketWatch.
A 419,000 claims were filed, a 51,000 rise from the previous week of 360,000.
This equates to over three and a half fully-packed University of Michigan football stadiums filing for unemployment.
This was one of the reasons gold prices rose again.
Though claims rose, the markets shrugged this off along with other disparities in the economy The WinePress has long reported on, the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke 35,000 points for the first time.
35,000 represents another one of those symbolic milestones for the market, especially when you consider the index fell below 20,000 just over a year ago.
Banks Are Permanently Shutting Their Branches
The following report is from the Trends Journal:
Many U.S. retail banks are permanently closing branches and firing staff, betting that online banking that became a habit during the 2020 shutdown will endure, according to the Financial Times.
Citigroup, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo collectively have closed more than 250 branches this year, cutting their networks by as much as 5%.
Wells Fargo, which had the most domestic branches at the end of 2020, closed 154, about 3% of its outlets, and terminated 6 percent of its workforce.
Our customers are increasingly leveraging our digital capabilities [enabling the bank to] adjust branch staffing.
CFO Michael Santomassimo said in comments quoted by the FT
Citigroup dumped about 100 branches across Asia, Mexico, and the U.S., about 4% of its network; JPMorgan shuttered 40 offices, about 1% of its total.
Physical visits to branches have been declining in recent years, but the banks still see brick-and-mortar locations as essential to draw new clients.
The difference is that, with digital, we can enter a new market with fewer branches than we did five or ten years ago and serve just as many clients, if not more.
JPMorgan said in a statement quoted by the FT
Online banking has long been predicted to shrink the number of in-person bank locations, but 2020’s lockdown sped the process, the FT noted.
TREND FORECAST: We predicted this trend almost two years ago (“Don’t Bank on Banking Jobs,” Trends Journal, 8 October 2019) and see it growing stronger. Eventually, people will need to enter bank buildings only to confer over loans or account problems or to provide a witnessed signature.
And, with the commercial real estate sector already suffering from the work at home trend, fear of employees returning to work and businesses forcing workers to get vaccinated, the loss of bank branches which are richly spread throughout cities is another trend that will negatively affect commercial real estate.
Companies Are Cutting Office Space To Save Money. Wells Fargo Cuts Credit Lines. Jobless Claims Rise
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
The rich man’s wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty.
Proverbs 10:15
Mainstream media analysts were doing cartwheels and looked as if they just went on the biggest DMT trip imaginable. It’s the same old song and dance with these professional lies – that needs no further elaboration, as WinePress readers know the story with the economy, and an overview of the others around the world.
As for the bank closures, The WinePress reported on the mass closures of banks as far back as early February. And now more of the major banks are shutting down.
Warning: Banks Are Shutting Down And Closing Up Accounts
Even in my area of St. Joseph County, Indiana, I found out that more local banks and credit unions are replacing employees with more ATM and automated services, with bank tellers operating from more remote stations. Rather telling.
My advice is to keep the bare-bones minimum in your debt/checking accounts to pay bills and other online expenditures, and that’s it. There is absolutely no reason to have a savings account, especially with next to zero interest rates. Be your own bank.
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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Just like the shortage of “coins”, this is meant to cause a problem. People will react, and the solution will be a World Bank controlled digital cash system. Welcome to enslavement. No jab, no money, no job, no movement.
Dump your cell phones, switch to Linux, start a garden, etc… We need to hold on until The Lord Jesus calls us home. Related: http://crn.hopto.org/include/vids/hugo/uk-social-credit-system-announced-get-rid-of-phone-hugo-talks-lockdown.mp4
.\\itch – Psalms 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.