Small-caps continue to act tentative. It is a group of stocks with the most exposure to the domestic economy, and their performance runs counter to the nearly-consensus view that the economy will do just fine next year. Oddly enough, small-cap … Continued
Small-business optimism continues to remain near all-time highs, although several sub-indexes are diverging, including profit trend, which the Russell 2000 closely tracks. The NFIB optimism index rose 1.4 points month-over-month in July to 104.7. This was the 32nd consecutive month … Continued
US stocks are on fire. The Russell 2000/IWM was essentially unchanged last week, with the index down 0.03 percent and the ETF up 0.06 percent. This followed nine weeks of persistent rally, during which they jumped 34 percent. Conditions are … Continued
Two thousand and seventeen has gotten off to a good start. In the first nine sessions of the year, the S&P 500 large cap index is up 1.6 percent. For the most part, the rally is driven by offensive sectors/industries, … Continued
The last time average hourly earnings of U.S. private-sector employees grew with a three handle was April 2009 … means in the current recovery wages are yet to print growth of three percent. December came close, with a year-over-year increase … Continued
Today is jobs day. April numbers are due out later this morning. One of the metrics that economists keenly await is average hourly earnings for private-sector employees. The U.S. unemployment rate has dropped all the way to five percent – … Continued
Later this morning, we get revised and detailed estimates of December’s durable goods data. The preliminary numbers were released last week, and there was no change in the trend. The trend is anything but going in the right direction. Orders … Continued
One of the hallmarks of the current U.S. recovery has been a lack of wage gains. Corporations have become the price setters, and employees the price takers. It is not that U.S. corporates are not making money. Profits adjusted for … Continued
National Federation of Independent Business members’ comp plans jumped three points in November to 20, matching the November 2006 high. The spike in the red line in Chart 1 is noteworthy. Historically, it has shown a tendency to lead average … Continued
Last week when October’s jobs report was published, there was one particular data point that really jumped out. The average hourly earnings of private-sector employees jumped 2.5 percent year-over-year, to $25.20 (Chart 1). This was the fastest rate employee earnings … Continued