Results include

Economic Indicators
Sep 21, 2023
Bottom Line: The Philadelphia Fed's Manufacturing survey fell again, disappointing expectations after a surprise rebound last month. The bottoming process in the goods economy remains volatile. Nonetheless, there are signs of a slow turn in manufacturing after several quarters of...
Sep 14, 2023
Bottom Line:  Producer prices rose more than expected than in August as the goods economy appears to be starting to bottom. Critical sectors like trade/transportation/warehousing saw notably higher prices. Processed and unprocessed goods prices were sharply higher, up 2.1% and...
Jul 13, 2023
Bottom Line:  Producer prices rose even less than expected again in June as pipeline inflation on the goods side of the economy continues to decelerate sharply. At the headline level, producer prices have seen deflation in the last three- and...
May 26, 2023
Bottom Line:  The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rebounded slightly in the latter half of May, but year-ahead expectations for the economy were still down 17% from April, with long-run expectations down 14%. Consumers remain concerned about the debt...
BID Newsletters
Oct 2, 2023
Economic predictions from the experts are all over the map, ranging from a soft landing to a recession to a boom in GDP. It all poses a difficult environment in which to plan for the near future.
Mar 13, 2023
As economists warn that recession is inevitable, CFIs should actively take steps to best prepare themselves and their customers to weather a significant economic downturn.
Mar 13, 2024
The gig economy is a fast-growing sector that CFIs cannot afford to ignore. We discuss some of the primary ways in which institutions can ensure they meet the needs of these self-employed customers.
Oct 4, 2022
With inflation high and credit use rising, your customers may be more open to learning about sound financial practices. Community financial institutions can capitalize on these teachable moments by offering financial wellness education through an app, in a virtual classroom, or in-person.
Feb 8, 2024
Every economic downturn creates both pain and opportunities. Rather than scaling back or doing nothing, CFIs should consider adopting strategies that will position them for growth when the economy inevitably recovers. We discuss five places to invest during a downturn that can provide you with good return on investment
Jan 24, 2024
Economists are predicting a downturn in consumer spending this year along with a slowing economy. We discuss strategies CFIs can use to prepare themselves and their small business customers for the impact.
Dec 29, 2023
In this final holiday reprint, we return to the topic of economy from this March 28 article: There are more ways than one to discern whether the US economy is in or headed for a recession. Instead of looking for the usual suspects, here are eight unconventional indicators that a recession is coming.
Mar 28, 2023
There are more ways than one to discern whether the US economy is in or headed for a recession. Instead of looking for the usual suspects, here are eight unconventional indicators that a recession is coming.
Dec 15, 2022
We interviewed PCBB’s President, Mike Dohren about the key trends he expects CFIs will need to look out for in 2023, including the impact of a slowing economy, the continued rise of disruptive tech, and key regulatory changes.
Nov 29, 2023
A challenging economy hasn’t deterred startups, which continue to be formed at record rates. As CFIs seek to identify the most promising startups seeking lending, there a few key things they should be looking for.
Jul 11, 2023
Small businesses form the backbone of not only the US economy but the client lists of many CFIs. But almost a third don’t think their banking institutions understand their needs. We look at some ways financial institutions can better support small businesses throughout their growth lifecycle.
Aug 9, 2022
Small business owners are more pessimistic about the economy than they have been in nearly half a century, according to a new survey. But they remain somewhat optimistic about their own future. In this muddied outlook, CFIs need to move cautiously in how they work with small business borrowers.
Apr 14, 2022
Minority-owned businesses play an increasingly important role in the US economy, generating $1.7T in revenue and providing more than 8.9MM jobs. Yet many are still finding it tough to access finance to grow and expand. Recently, the government increased its efforts to improve the situation. Here are five efforts that community financial institutions can do to help address this challenge.
Mar 27, 2024
Financial institutions dealt with economic uncertainty, higher interest rates, more expensive funding, lower loan demand, and concerns about credit quality in 2023. Yet they continued to grow loans overall. There are some indicators that the lending market could begin growing again. We discuss what factors would contribute to this change.
Feb 14, 2024
Although the Fed has kept interest rates steady since mid-2023 and may cut them sometime this year, they’re still the highest they’ve been in many years, and they continue to impact small businesses across all industries. We discuss three ways in which CFIs can support their small business customers as they navigate the high interest rate environment.
Feb 1, 2024
According to a new NFIB survey, pessimism prevails among small business owners. We discuss the challenges that small businesses noted in the survey and the potential impact on CFIs.