15.6% of high school graduates do nothing. While down from the 2/14 peak of 16.9%, it’s substantially above the previous recession high of 14.8% set in 2003/2004. For whites, the current rate of 13.7% is higher than any time prior…
Friday’s Employment data was puzzling. While the economy created 160,000 jobs, it was the weakest growth since 9/15 and the labor force participation rate fell from 63% to 62.8%. But Y-o-Y wage growth increased from 2.3% to 2.5%, the 4th…
The Friday File: The most used banknote in circulation is the $1 bill featuring Washington, which accounts for 30% of all bills. The $100 Ben Franklin comes in second, accounting for 28% of all bills (probably because of drug cartel…
Q1/16 non-farm labor productivity growth fell at a seasonally-adjusted annualized rate of -1%; Y-o-Y productivity growth rose just 0.6%. Since the end of the recession in 6/09, productivity growth has averaged a dismal 1.3%. These weak numbers help explain how…
Q1/16 revenue at Amazon was a staggering $29 billion and net income was $513 million. More interesting, Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenue jumped 64% to $2.6 billion, 9% of total revenue, but 67% of operating income and 56% of operating…
While the seasonally adjusted Q1/16 home ownership rate of 63.6% slipped from 63.7% in Q4/15, the long decline in homeownership is over. In Q1/15, the rate was 63.8%, just 0.2 percentage points above where it is now, its smallest January…
Q1/16 GDP growth came in at a very lackluster 0.5%, its worst performance since Q1/14. Since 2010, lousy Q1 GDP growth has been the norm, averaging just 0.8%. The good news; consumer spending grew a passable 1.9% and new-home construction…
The Friday File: With more efficient planes and low fuel costs, ultra-long flights are in. The longest flight in the world is 8,810 miles, takes 17 hours and 20 minutes, and is from Auckland to Dubai. The next longest is…
There are many problems with negative interest rates. First, small and medium-sized firms can’t borrow by issuing bonds; they borrow from banks and bank rates are much higher. Second, negative rates hurt bank balance sheets, hurting credit availability. Cheap money…
Of late, oil and equities have rallied, job growth has firmed, the dollar has weakened, credit conditions have improved, but growth has slowed. Financial markets peg the probability of a June Fed rate hike at just 19.6%. To give themselves…