Month: September 2015

At the height of the 2013 coal boom, the trading firm Glencore purchased mining firm Xtrata forming Glencore-Xtrata. The thought was combining low volatility Glencore with high volatility Xtrata, and in the process making a bigger firm, would improve results.…

While college students have borrowed over $1.2 trillion and seven million students are in default, more debt doesn’t appear to increase default rates. Of students that borrow less than $5,000, 34% default, those that borrow between $5,000 and $10,000 have…

Unless Speaker Boehner can raise the debt ceiling and fund the government through 2017 before he resigns on 10/31/15, the Fed may again delay raising rates. If these issues aren’t resolved, it will fall to presumed Speaker McCarthy to solve…

The Friday File: After two weeks, NFL teams are converting one-point conversions at a rate of 94.1%, down from 99.3% last year, due to a significant rule change making the kick 33 yards, not 20 yards. Last year, two-point conversions…

While inflation is well below the Fed’s 2% goal, according to Fed Chairwoman Yellen 80% of the shortfall is evenly split between low energy prices and the strengthening dollar, with the remainder split between labor market slack and weak commodity…

In 11/07, the number of full-time workers peaked at 121.9 million, while the number of part-time workers totaled 24.8 million, including 4.3 million part-timers who couldn’t find full-time work. Last month, the number of full-timers hit 122 million, finally surpassing…

Any hope about a near-term resurgence in the manufacturing sector should be put to rest. The most recent readings for industrial production and capacity utilization showed a decline, as have all three Federal Reserve manufacturing indices along the east coast.…

Median household income in 2014 was $53,657, down from $54,462 in 2013 and is down 9.3% from the all-time high of $57,843 in 1999. Median household income is now roughly where it was in 1989 when it surpassed $53,000 for…

The Friday File: Americans spend about $1 billion/year on nail polish. The most costly, Rouge Louboutin at $50 for less than half an ounce. Revenues across all 53,815 nail salons are $8.5 billion/year with the number of salons up from…

After months of speculation, the Fed left interest rates unchanged. They expect to bump rates a quarter-point before year end, and anticipate raising rates by one percentage point per calendar year until the fed funds rate reaches 3.5% in 2018.…