January’s NAHB/Wells Fargo builder confidence index was 60, unchanged from December but down from the recent peak of 65 in October. Moreover, after hitting 57 for the first time since the housing bust in 12/13, the index has moved sideways…
Import prices fell 1.2% in December, led by a 10% decline in petroleum prices. Excluding energy, import prices still fell 0.3%. During CY2015, import prices fell 8.2%; non-fuel imports declined 3.4%. These deflationary numbers, along with the continuing decline in…
The Friday File: Measured by passenger miles, American was the #1 US airline in 2015 with 223 billion revenue-miles, followed by Delta at 210 and United at 209. Ranked by passengers, American carried 201.2 million, Delta 179.4 and Southwest 144.6…
While US exports to China are just 1% of GDP, China’s slowdown still matters. Countries that export raw materials to China (like Australia), that have substantial two-way trade with China (like Japan), or that compete with China in the selling…
Total international arms sales were $71.8 billion in 2014, up slightly from $70.1 billion in 2013. The US was the top arms exporter at $36.2 billion, followed by Russia at $10.2 billion, Sweden at $5.5 billion, France, $4.4 billion and…
The Powerball jackpot is $1.5 billion, the largest US lottery jackpot ever. If taken as a lump-sum, and assuming you don’t share the pot, the after-tax payout would be about $531 million. The odds of winning: 292.2 million to one.…
Friday’s job report was good! Payrolls grew by 292,000, and prior month numbers were upwardly revised by 50,000. Q4 was the best quarter for job growth in 2015, a year which averaged 221,000 new jobs/month, the second best since 1999.…
The Friday File: If you love chemistry, there is now more to love. Until recently there were 114 elements, now there are 118! These new “superheavy” elements exist very briefly. Ununtrium (atomic number 113) exists for less than a thousandth…
Chinese equity markets are declining because their economy is looking increasingly weak. Worse, the policy of chronically devaluing the yuan, despite a $600 billion trade surplus, has many convinced the government has simply run out of ideas. That, in turn,…
A combination of cheap financing, longer car notes (84 months), employment growth and an old fleet culminated in sales of 17.5 million cars in 2015, breaking the record of 17.3 million set in 2000 let alone the 2009 trough of…