Posts Tagged ‘Elliot’s Brief Blog’
A Rise in Earnings?
In the early ’90s Pfizer patented sildenafil to treat various heart-related conditions. That patent expires in ’12. During clinical trials men taking sildenafil experienced spontaneous erections. This led Pfizer to develop the same drug (Viagra) for ED. Pfizer then applied for a second patent on sildenafil as an ED drug. That patent ends in ’19.…
Read MorePeak GDP Growth; Dismal!
On a 4-quarter trailing basis real GDP growth peaked at 3.2% in Q3 of last year, declined to 2.8% in Q4 and now stands at just 2.3% If that Q3 peak of 3.2% holds, it will be the be the lowest post-recession GDP peak ever recorded in the post WWII era. For purposes of comparison,…
Read MoreDebt Ceiling Decisions
The Congress will raise the debt ceiling! There have been 6 Biden Summit meetings (hosted by VP Biden and attended by 3 key players from each party) in the past 6 weeks but 3 are scheduled for this week, the heated rhetoric is gone and this weekend Obama and Speaker Boehner will play golf and…
Read MoreShift to Capital Goods
According to the Dept. of Comm. since the recovery began business spending on employees has increased 2%, while spending on equipment and software (E&S) has risen 26%. A spending rebound that divergent has only occurred once–after the ’82 recession. This is happening because E&S prices are down 2.4% since the recovery began while labor costs…
Read MoreTriple Crown Drought
The Triple Crown drought has reached 33 years since Seattle Slew won in ’78 (Secretariat in ’73). Why the dearth? The ’85 tax law changes proved dramatic. Owners no longer could write off racing expenses unless they were involved on a daily basis. This resulted in a huge fall in foal crops. The 25K born…
Read MoreStupid Senator Shelby
In April ’10 Obama nominated MIT economist Peter Diamond, to be a Fed governor. Sen Shelby questioned his experience. Moreover, he got all the R’s on the Sen Banking Comm. to vote against confirmation. In Oct ’10 Diamond won the Nobel Prize in economics! In Jan ’11 Obama rightly renominated him yet Shelby prevailed and…
Read MoreCome Fly Away
Ever wonder why airfare from Pittsburgh (Pitt) to Las Vegas (LV) is less than from LV to Pitt? If you fly from Pitt to LV you are going on vacation and you have lots of choices. But if you are going from LV to Pitt you likely have inflexible business or family reasons for travelling…
Read MoreWell Chilled Champagne?
A Singaporean investor set a new record for the world’s most expensive champagne by paying $44,000 for a bottle of 1841 Veuve Cliquot. It was salvaged from a shipwreck 165 feet deep off the Aland Islands located between Sweden and Finland. Experts say the Baltic seabed proved to be an ideal wine cellar with low…
Read MoreNo Jobs, Weak Productivity
Jobs, where are they? The Labor Dept. employment tally came in at 54K well off the 232K in April and 194K in March. While our economy may be entering another “soft patch” the thing is you don’t get 2 of them in the first 2 years of a normal economic recovery! The silver lining, labor…
Read MoreEconomy is Not Fun
The Institute of Supply Management’s Manufacturing Activity Index fell to 53.5 in May from 60.4. This shows the pace of manufacturing activity moderating since the index reached a 7 year high of 61.2 in March. Add to it a decline in Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index from 66 in April to a 6 month low…
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