Blogs

Article | 5 min |
Executives meeting to create an action plan
You’ve invested countless long, hard hours in building a stable, profitable business with a bright future. But negative economic forces can strike at any time, destabilizing your finances and possibly even endangering the survival of your business. This is one of the main reasons it’s so important to build and maintain healthy cash reserves. Cash reserves serve many important purposes including helping business owners meet unexpected expenses while also stabilizing cash flow and easing overall financial stress. This guide to cash reserves explains why it’s so important for a business to have...
Article | 5 min |
Hand drawing a 3D chart
A year ago, a headline “The Recession of 2023 might surprise everyone” would have been prescient simply because it didn’t happen. On the contrary, last year showed surprising resilience and a pace of growth no one expected, despite forecasts of a slowdown or recession by most economists. 2023 was supposed to have been the year in which the economy succumbed to the sharpest increase in interest rates in four decades; tightening lending standards by the banks; and the end of pandemic-era government spending. Accumulated savings from Covid-related shutdowns and receipts of stimulus checks were...
Article | 5 min |
Picture of statue at Federal Reserve
Commonly known as the Beige Book, this report is published eight times per year. Each Federal Reserve Bank gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions in its District through reports from Bank and Branch directors and interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts and other sources. The Beige Book summarizes this information by District and sector. An overall summary of the twelve district reports is prepared by a designated Federal Reserve Bank on a rotating basis. Overall Economic Activity Retail sales, including autos, remained mixed; sales of...
Article | 5 min |
Black and white image of hands typing on a keyboard
Banking partners you can count on to help you achieve growth goals Agriculture helps stabilize the economy Dubuque Bank & Trust, a division of HTLF Bank, serves and Drew Townsend, bank President and CEO, says that stability and potential for an interest rate drop is reason for optimism in 2024. “We read and see in industry forecasts from a variety of sources that everybody is suggesting or predicting in the latter half of 2024 we might start to see some decreases in interest rates, which would be welcomed. It would help control some of the costs that have been elevated by inflation recently,”...
Article | 5 min |
Businesses across the U.S. display a great deal of resilience as many challenges from 2023 have spilled over into 2024 and new obstacles have left some business leaders uneasy. As businesses continue to face economic uncertainty and fraud attacks remain on the rise, having a reliable banking partner on your team to help guide decision-making will allow you to manage with confidence. In compiling survey results from our clients and reviewing reliable sources, we have created the Financial Feed to provide our market with valuable insights on the future of finance. In The Report: Strategies on...