Econ70

June retail sales rose a surprising 0.4% and are probably running at their best sustained pace in five years! June manufacturing activity rose a solid 0.4%, June job growth was excellent, and the trade wars are calming down. All this…

Border apprehensions steadily rose from essentially nothing in 1960 to slightly over 1.5 million/year from 1996 through 2000. Apprehensions then steadily declined to a low of about 400,000/year in 2010 through 2018. However, in 2019, border apprehensions are way up…

OPEC and Russia recently extended a production cap until 3/20. However, OPEC’s share of global production is 39.2%, down from 42.2%, while US share is 14.5%, up from 10.9%. To date, most of the decline has resulted from sharp involuntary…

Chinese imports sagged a stunning 7.3% in June, suggesting weak demand. Moreover, auto sales fell for a 12th straight month in June and YTD are at their weakest since 2015. Also, June producer prices were flat, the weakest showing since…

The Friday File: Based on data through 2018, India, in 2014, had the largest number of registered voters for a national democratic election with 834,101,479. The US is a distant second with 214,109,367 registered voters in 2016. Indonesia is not…

Historically, new housing led to more local shopping, and thus higher local sales tax revenues. But due to online shopping, that relationship has been attenuated. Moreover, there is now heightened demand for downtown office space rather than suburban office parks.…

Despite department and clothing stores losing jobs (81,400 over the past year, down to 2.44 million), mall vacancy rates have steadied at 9.3% after rising for two straight years. And, the vacancy rate at strip malls fell to 10.1% in…

Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has proposed a wealth tax of 2% on those with wealth exceeding $50 million and a 1% billionaire surcharge. This tax will affect 75,000 households. Assuming no behavioral changes and no tax avoidance/evasion strategies,…

June’s strong 224,000 net new jobs were a huge relief after May’s weak showing and tariff traumas. That said, YTD job growth is 171,000/month, over the last 12 months it’s 192,000/month, in CY2018 it was 223,000/month; we’re slowing. Wage growth…

The Friday File: The busiest bridge on Earth, the George Washington, with over 100 million car crossings/year. The highest is the Chinese Beipanjiang Bridge with 1,854 feet between the bridge’s span and the ground. The tallest, the French Millau Viaduct,…