Families making less than $50,000 are stretched, though. “In some cases, people are managing spending paycheck to paycheck,” the discount chain’s CEO said. Source: nbcnews.com

Walmart Inc., a bellwether of consumer spending, cited a “hiring recession” and pressures on shoppers as it forecast less growth in earnings this year than Wall Street was expecting. Source: bloomberg.com

Venezuela’s economic and humanitarian situation is “quite fragile,” the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday, adding that it was seeing inflation estimated to be in the triple digits and a rapid depreciation of the currency. Source: reuters.com

Federal Reserve governor Stephen Miran dialed back his calls for how deeply the Fed should cut rates this year, telling an interviewer that recent data have reflected a stronger economy than he had expected. Source: wsj.com

Source: pbs.org

The combination is drawing comparisons to the infamous “jobless recovery” of the early 2000s that followed the tech bubble and collapse. Source: detroitnews.com