December real retail sales: the good economic news keeps on coming – by New Deal democrat The good economic news kept coming with this morning’s retail sales report for December. Remember that this is one of my favorite indicators because, adjusted for population, it is a fairly good long leading indicator, and on a short […]
As vehicles and outdoor appliances become increasingly electric, long term gas usage – and “real” prices – decline – by New Deal democrat What is the “real” cost of gasoline? When measuring this, some people compare with the CPI. But that actually just tells you the *relative* inflation in gas vs. other items. That’s why, […]
For MLK Day: Blacks are faring better during the post-pandemic Boom than at almost any time in the previous 50+ years – by New Deal democrat On this MLK Jr. national holiday, let’s take a look at how Blacks are faring in the current economy. And the answer is, pretty good! The unemployment rate for Blacks […]
Weekly Indicators for January 8 – 12 at Seeking Alpha – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. There are almost always a few interesting ripples in the pond. In the past month, notably there has been the sudden collapse in YoY tax withholding payments. I’m not too concerned yet, […]
Producer prices flat, commodities decline, confirming shelter as sole inflationary pressure – by New Deal democrat Once again producer prices confirmed that the only significant problem in inflation is shelter. In December commodity prices declined -1.3%. For finished goods they declined -1.2%. Even producer prices for services were unchanged: On a YoY basis, commodity prices […]
Consumer inflation remains all about the lagged effect of house prices – by New Deal democrat Consumer inflation in December continued to be a tale of the relative importance of gas prices vs. the lagged effect of home prices. Headline inflation increased 0.3%, and was up 3.4% YoY. YoY headline inflation has bounced between 3.1%-3.7% […]
The good news on jobless claims continues – by New Deal democrat The recent streak of very positive news on jobless claims continued this week. Initial claims declined -1,000 to 201,000. The four week moving average declined -250 to 207,750. With the usual one week delay, continuing claims declined -34,000 to 1.834 million. The first […]
Sales lead employment: real aggregate payrolls update – by New Deal democrat The drought in new data ends tomorrow with consumer inflation. In preparation, let’s take a look at real aggregate payrolls. These increased 0.2% in December, one of the lower readings in the past 2 years: On a YoY basis, aggregate nonsupervisory payrolls increased […]
Scenes from the jobs report 2: the unemployment rate and consumption: weak, but not recessionary – by New Deal democrat Yesterday I looked at some employment metrics from Friday’s jobs report. Today let’s look at un- (and under-) employment. Every Thursday I repeat the mantra that jobless claims lead the unemployment rate. Here are both […]
Scenes from the leading sectors of the December jobs report: sectors of weakness and strength – by New Deal democrat For nearly two decades, my focus on economic reporting online has been finding and examining leading indicators; those datapoints that tell us where the economy in general, and in particular jobs and income for ordinary […]