There is probably no other price as important as the price of money – that is, interest rates. They are what grease the wheels of an economy. Simplistically, when rates are high, people are incentivized to save more. When they … Continued
Jobs have been relatively hard to come by in the current economic recovery. From the January 2008 high of 138.37mn, U.S. non-farm payroll nosedived all the way to 129.66mn by February 2010, for a loss of 8.7mn. It took four-plus … Continued
Any economist or investment professional who knows a thing or two about what is going on in the U.S. job market knows not to be misled by the rapid decline in the unemployment rate. From the cycle high 10 percent … Continued
The 1Q14 GDP print was a shocker, to say the least! Real GDP inched up a mere 0.1 percent SAAR, versus consensus expectations of 1.2-percent expansion. Sure, it is the advance estimate, with two more still to come. Sure it … Continued
There was a lot of excitement early this week after U.S. retail-sales data were released. At 1.14 percent, month/month change in retail and food services was the highest since September 2012. ‘Motor vehicles & parts dealers’ helped a great deal … Continued
Are we there yet? Have we yet reached the escape velocity? You know the 6.96 miles-per-second speed needed to break free from the gravitational pull of the earth. I am of course figuratively referring to the prevalent expectations that the … Continued