Economic Reports Scorecard Concern about recession is growing again as formerly strong portions of the economy turn down. The last two weeks brought reports of new weakness in the labor market, continued slowing in construction and renewed weakness in manufacturing. Auto sales were also weak based on the reports from individual manufacturers. The state of auto sales is frankly a [...]
Economic Reports Scorecard Survey based economic reports continue to run counter to real world, actual data. Since the real data tends to lag, an optimist would probably take this as good news. A pessimist would dismiss it altogether as useless survey based data. Me? I'm a realistic optimist. I see the survey based data as potentially positive since attitude and [...]
Economic Reports Scorecard The economic reports since the last update present a dichotomy. While there has been an improvement in the surprises - more better than expected reports - the overall tone of the reports has been fairly negative. Part of the explanation for that is the plethora of regional Fed reports over the last two weeks, almost all of [...]
Janet Yellen thinks she wants inflation. The market thinks she's going to get it: The hawks at the Fed are losing the battle but I suspect they will win the war - after Yellen gets what she wants.
Global stock markets, especially in the US, have made a furious comeback from the lousy start of the year. At its worst level the S&P 500 was down 11% year to date and 15% from its peak late last spring. At that nadir the market was trading at roughly the same level as November of 2013, over two years of [...]
Economic Reports Scorecard The economic data calendar has been light the last two weeks but the tone of the data has generally improved. On the whole though I find it hard to discern a big change in the US economy. The two manufacturing surveys were bright spots in the ongoing manufacturing recession. Empire State and Philly Fed both were much [...]
I use the June 2018 eurodollar futures contract as a significant benchmark in my analysis of money markets because I feel it represents a solid cross section of sometimes conflicting influences. It’s close enough to the front end as to be significant both in terms of monetary policy as a factor but far enough to be as heavily if not [...]
The US economy is supposed to be nothing like its Chinese counterpart, a sentiment that extends in the mainstream well past that into genuine surprise about how it would be possible US financial markets tripping over Chinese stumbles. Though the US might be fighting, too, a manufacturing slump that looks more like recession every day, convention still holds that the [...]
In addition to global “dollar” markets, the treasury curve and “inflation” trading both suggest more so disruptive potential than the optimistic path forward laid out by the FOMC’s policy decision. Upward monetary policy adjustments are in anticipation of “overheating” or an economy in the predicate position for its imminent take off. Since credit markets are discounting mechanisms in a manner [...]
By all meaningful measures, credit markets today aren’t any different than they were after the first “dollar” wave crested and subsided. Despite all that has transpired all over the place in 2015, this resiliency is worrisome. No matter how much commentary wishes it to be a comforting tool of monetary policy adjusting into economic salvation, the fact that these indications [...]
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