Month: July 2016

Tall Tales

07/29/2016

The Friday File: Dutch men, at almost 6’ and Latvian women at 5’7” are the tallest in the world. Men from Timor-Leste, at 5’3” and Guatemalan women, at 4’11” are the shortest. American men at 5’10” are 37th tallest, while…

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Indecisive Interest

07/28/2016

Yesterday’s Fed statement suggesting that “near-term risks to the economic outlook have diminished” that “job gains were strong” and “household spending has been growing strongly” indicates a Fed that’s again taking steps to prepare the market for a rate rise,…

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Downer Durables

07/27/2016

After peaking at $70.7 billion in 9/14, new orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft (core capital goods), have been steadily falling and were just $62.3 billion in 6/16. They are down 3.7% Y-o-Y; 3.8% YTD. New orders for all…

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Inventory Irritant

07/26/2016

While existing home sales in June were at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million, their highest level since 2/07, sales remain 22% off the peak of mid-2005. A key reason; a low inventory that essentially hasn’t budged since late…

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Venal Venezuela

07/25/2016

While most nations are struggling mightily with how to boost inflation from microscopic levels, Venezuela has more than enough. This year, Venezuelan inflation is expected to reach 500%, and in 2017, a terrifying 1,650%. Declining oil prices alone hurt, but…

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Baby Block

07/22/2016

The Friday File: The number of foreign adoptions by Americans fell by 12% in 2015 to 5,648, down from 6,438 in 2014 and a peak of 22,884 in 2004, from which the number has steadily declined. In 2015, the number…

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Damn Debt

07/21/2016

For the year ending 6/16, the budget deficit totaled $523 billion, up 20.6% from a year earlier. As a percentage of GDP, it’s 2.9%, the highest level since 3/15. Revenues grew 2% in the last 12 months, spending grew 4.3%.…

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Puny Percentages

07/20/2016

With global growth slowing and inflation benign, easy monetary policy is here for longer. Of the 25 largest central banks, only two have recently raised rates; the Fed and the Federal Reserve Bank of Mexico. Twelve are expected to ease,…

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Deficient Demand

07/19/2016

The labor force participation rate has fallen substantially for workers with, at most, a high school degree. This fall in the supply of low-skilled workers should raise wages. Yet, their wages have fallen 25% compared to workers with a college…

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Sluggish Sentiment

07/18/2016

The first post-Brexit US economic data point came out Friday, and it showed that consumer sentiment declined from 93.5 in June to 89.5 during the first 10 days of July; hardly surprising. Record numbers of households mentioned Brexit, including nearly…

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