Mid-month the US Census Bureau reported its monthly retail sales number… And it blew away expectations coming in up 1.3%. This big boost in sales should be great news because the Census Bureau is more than happy to remind you that consumer spending represents roughly two-thirds of our GDP. Then again, when it comes to …
Some Good Economic News (That’s Not Really That Good) Read More »
Recognize this quote? Price stability is the responsibility of the Federal Reserve and serves as the bedrock of our economy. Without price stability, the economy does not work for anyone. It’s been in pretty much every one of Jay Powell’s last four FOMC statements. (Pretty much verbatim too!) So given the Chairman’s insistence that the …
Headlines out of the Fed lately have been suggesting that a slow down in the pace of rate increases is imminent. Or not… On November 13 the WSJ trumpeted… And then on November 14… Waller warned: …the Fed will want to see more evidence of that (declining inflation) happening before it can consider any end …
The Fed’s big promise for cranking rates higher at a pace we haven’t seen in half a century is that it’s necessary to establish price stability. Chair Powell has stated over and over again in his FOMC announcements… Price stability is the responsibility of the Federal Reserve and serves as the bedrock of our economy. …
That didn’t take long… Last Tuesday I wrote you about what appeared to be some discrepancies where employment numbers go, specifically job cuts that didn’t seem to be showing up in the reported numbers. And that the numbers could change dramatically… For the past several months, players in the tech sector have been busy trimming …
A funny thing happened on the way to the FOMC meeting… There’s a writer for the Wall Street Journal named Nick Timiraos. Some would say he’s the kind of guy the Fed would go to to leak something to the market before they actually announced it… if they did that. For instance, if they were thinking …
Happy Election Day! It’s a shame that so much time, energy and money gets invested into these biennial events. For the amount of money that gets spent trying to influence your vote the government could have built TWO border walls… But it is what it is. Anyway, today brings to an end the season of …
The problem with this round of inflation, as I’ve said again and again and again, is that it’s not a cyclical monetary phenomenon like we’ve typically seen over the last 30-plus years. It’s a secular inflationary monster the likes of which we haven’t seen since the “Great Inflation” of the 1970s. It was caused by …
The Shortage that Could Kick Inflation into Overdrive Read More »
After two consecutive quarters of negative growth, the US economy sprung back to life last week. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the US economy — as represented by GDP — had expanded 2.6% in the third quarter. This news allows the Fed to exhale, at least momentarily. Tomorrow the Fed winds up its …
Getting sucked into earnings season can sometimes leave the average investor with a major headache. Often, a stock’s reaction to the data their company releases can seem like a complete mystery — A company beats revenue estimates, but still sells off. Here’s one final rule for how to better interpret earnings results. One Size (Doesn’t) …
