Econ70

While housing starts jumped an impressive 20% in April compared to March and permits bounced 10%, hold the applause. March was an unexpectedly lousy month, and through April 2015 all housing starts are up just 5.5% year-over-year; single-family starts are…

Despite falling exports, rising inventories, declining industrial production, poor corporate profit growth and weak corporate investment, the labor market is strengthening. The number of students enrolled at four-year for-profit colleges and two-year public colleges, both educational institutions that cater to…

While retail and food service sales have fallen four of the last five months, retail sales are a lousy predictor of anything. During the Great Recession, retail sales turned negative fully eight months after the recession began! Moreover, at $5.2…

The Friday File: 75 years ago today, brothers Dick and Maurice McDonald opened the first McDonald’s in San Bernardino, CA. In 1948 they reduced their menu and sped up service, inventing fast food. In 1949 came fries, and in 1961…

In 2013, 62.7% of the US population lived in incorporated cities (ICs), up from 62.3% in 2010 and 61.9% in 2000. ICs occupy 3.5% of US land area. The West is most urban, with 76.4% of its population living in…

Of every 100,000 persons born in 1900, 13 made it to age 100. That same statistic is projected to be 199 for those born in 1950, and 1,968 for those born in 2010! Similarly in 1900, 25% of all persons…

Prime Minister Cameron’s strong victory in U.K. elections last week elated markets as the Tories are considered better able to shrink the stubbornly large UK budget deficit than Labour. But market tranquility will be brief. The rise of the Scottish…

Friday’s job report showed continued but grindingly slow labor market improvement. Net job growth totaled 223,000 which was OK and the unemployment rate fell to 5.4% from 5.5%. Those working part-time because they can’t find full time work fell by…

The Friday File: In March, a Gauguin sold for $300 million, the highest price ever paid for a work of art. Soon after, a Gerhard Richter painting sold for $45 million, the most ever for a living European artist. In…

The US had a staggering $51.4 billion trade deficit in March, the largest since 2008, and up from $35.9 billion in February. Thus Q1 GDP will be revised down from 0.2% to -0.2%. The reasons: the West Coast port dispute…