70 Words
The Friday File: The college football playoff final-four was designed to let the top four teams (Alabama, Oregon, Florida State, Ohio State) play to determine a winner, rather than relying on dubious polls. The top four played 13 games each…
Read MoreUnemployment in the Eurozone is at a sky-high 11.5% (its peak here was 10%), annual inflation is running at a microscopic 0.3% matching a five year low and is expected to fall further. Worse, manufacturing activity is stalling and is…
Read MoreIn a shrewd move the Fed will impose added capital requirements on the nation’s biggest banks. The additional capital will penalize banks that rely heavily on short-term funding. This will force these banks to hold more capital and reduce their…
Read MoreIn 2013, US CO2 emissions increased by 2.5%. Emissions are a function of four variables: population, GDP/person, energy intensity and CO2 intensity. Population growth boosted emissions by 0.7%, rising GDP/person boosted emissions by 1.5%, energy intensity surprisingly rose by 0.5%…
Read MoreLast Friday’s November labor report reinforces the notion that the economy really is improving. Payroll growth has averaged 241,000/month year-to-date, a 24% improvement over last year. Yet private sector wage gains are up a measly 2.1% year-over-year, despite the strong…
Read MoreThe Friday File: The nearly completed One World Trade Center has the honor of being the priciest skyscraper ever built at $3.9 billion. The two buildings tied for second were each built for a paltry $1.9 billion. As for height,…
Read MoreWhile many fret that wage growth is miniscule despite the sizable decline in the unemployment rate, the concern is misplaced. Since 1990, the inflation rate has rarely risen unless the unemployment rate has fallen below 5.5%. With the unemployment rate…
Read MoreWhile total non-farm payroll employment is now at 139.7 million, substantially above the pre-recession peak of 138.4 million, full-time non-farm payroll employment is at just 119.6 million, 2.0 million below its pre-recession high. As a result, the number of persons…
Read MoreDespite all the ads, hype and hoopla, November is only the 7th best shopping month of the year. December is far and away the best, with total spending 15% above the 10-year average monthly level. May is next at 4%…
Read MoreAt 458,000, October’s annualized new home sales were flat. In September they were 455,000 and in August a whopping 453,000. Worse, inventory actually inched up from 5.5 months to 5.6 months and actual sales in October were 37,000 up 1,000…
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