Econ70

Last week, to no one’s surprise, the Fed left rates unchanged. But due to domestic inflation running well below its 2% target, weak global growth (and specifically weak global manufacturing activity), and now the Wuhan coronavirus, the concern is that…

Net job growth of 225,000 in January, mild upward revisions to November and December, a nice jump in the labor force participation rate from 63.2% to 63.4%, the best rate since 6/13, making the unemployment rate rise from 3.5% to…

Rocking Rollers The Friday File: The tallest roller coaster in the world is the Kingda Ka at 456 feet in Jackson, New Jersey. It’s held the record since 5/05. The fastest coaster; the Formula Rossa which peaks at 149 mph…

The share price of Tesla has more than tripled since the end of July and Tesla is now the world’s second most valuable automaker at $160 billion, behind Toyota at $200 billion. The only problem: it’s a consistent money loser.…

GDP Gouge While 2020 US GDP growth should be about 2%, two threats that could meaningfully impact the short run are Boeing, which will reduce 20Q1 GDP by 0.4% and the Wuhan Coronavirus, which may reduce GDP by around 0.3%.…

Amazon’s 19Q4 corporate revenue hit $87.4 billion due to robust holiday sales, and operating income was $3.9 billion. These results made Amazon the 4th US firm to have a market cap of over $1 trillion. More interestingly, Amazon Web Services,…

The US economy grew 2.1% in 19Q4 and 2.3% in CY2019. While that’s the slowest pace since 2016, it’s the average growth rate since the recovery began in 7/09. Looking to 2020, growth will benignly decline to 2%. Consumer spending…

The Friday File: Last Sunday, Kobe Bryant, 41, his 13-year-old daughter, and six others were killed in a helicopter crash in LA. Bryant began making history when at 17 he became the youngest NBA player ever. During his 20-year career…

US new home sales fell to an annual rate of 694,000 in 12/19; a mildly disappointing end to a dismal decade which saw single-family new-homes sales average just 484,000/year. In the prior decade (2000-2009), single-family sales averaged 901,000, in the…

Medical Money From 1998-2017, the cost of medical services doubled, and hospital services tripled; the CPI rose by just 50%. Why? Healthcare bills are paid by third parties like insurance companies and the government. Consumers have no incentive to monitor…