Econ70
Last Friday’s employment data had something for everyone. Payrolls grew by a whopping 248,000, the unemployment rate plummeted to 5.9%, its lowest level since 7/08, and the number of involuntary part-time workers declined. But the labor force participation rate fell…
The Friday File: Former Fed head Ben Bernanke, someone who knows a thing or two about home mortgages as under his watch the Fed purchased $1.5 trillion of them, was unable to refinance his mortgage. Here’s a guy who earns…
The final reading of Q2 US GDP growth was just pegged at an annual rate of 4.6%. With this, US GDP growth has exceeded 3.5% for three of the past four quarters. Moreover, consumer spending is inching up, government headwinds…
Sales of new homes hit an annualized seasonally adjusted rate of 504,000, the best reading since 5/08. But one month is not a trend, the data are very volatile, and unusually, August had five weekends, prime buying time. YTD new…
With new cars sales hitting an annualized rate of 17.4 million last month, the best since 2006, there’s not much room for improvement. Boomers are driving less, half of all drivers are now women, income growth is flat, Millenials are…
With the league’s highest payroll at $239 million, it isn’t surprising the Dodgers made the playoffs and won 94 games. However, they spent $2.5 million/win! Conversely, Oakland with a payroll of $75 million won 88 games but only spent $850,000/win,…
The Friday File: In 1991, the average American bought 40 garments/year. Imports then began flooding the market, prices fell and the number of garments purchased/year steadily rose, peaking at 69 in 2005 with average spending/person reaching $860. With imports now…
While existing home sales are down 5.3% year-over-year, recent sales numbers are really pretty good. Inventory is up 4.5% year-over-year and cash sales are at their lowest level since 12/09. More importantly, non-distressed sales are almost exactly the same as…
Short-term rates will remain at zero until mid-June when the Fed will start raising them. By the end of 2015, expect short-term rates to be between 1.25% and 1.5%. Expect them to rise to between 2.5% and 3% by the…
On 10/5/14 Brazilians go to the polls in a presidential election. While Dilma Rousseff is the incumbent, surprise opposition candidate Marina Silva has my vote. Not only will it be impossible for her to utterly mismanage the Brazilian economy as…