Saudi ARAMCO IPO Definitely Cancelled Reuters reports that the proposed IPO by Saudi ARAMCO, which would have been the world’s largest, has definitely been canceled. I have posted previously posted about delays in the IPO and rumors it would be cancelled. Now it has been. The reports say that there were multiple factors. There were […]
“Economists are active militants against the concept of the lump of labor, that is, the popular idea that the total number of jobs or of working hours is fixed (Walker, 2007).” The quote is the first line from a 2017 paper by Tito Boeri, et al. It gives me confidence that at least some of […]
Can the Fed successfully steer between Scylla and Charybdis? An update As I type this, the spread between 2 year and 10 year Treasuries is back to 0.25%, the level below which I switch my rating on the yield curve from positive to neutral. Already the spread is tight enough that, even if it never […]
Weekly Indicators for August 13 – 17 at Seeking Alpha – by New Deal democrat My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. There were 4 long leading indicators that were on the cusp of changing. To see what happened, please put a penny or two in my pocket by heading on over and reading!
Industrial production cools a bit; retail sales continue strong Both industrial production and retail sales for July were reported this morning. Let’s take a look at both. First, industrial production increased m/m to another all time high (gray in the graph below), as did manufacturing (red): At the same time, if you zoom in on […]
Economic Policy Institute has published a new study on the surge in CEO compensation: Summary What this report finds: This report looks at trends in chief executive officer (CEO) compensation, using two different measures. The first measure includes stock options realized (in addition to salary, bonuses, restricted stock grants, and long-term incentive payouts). By this measure, […]
(Dan here…Lifted from Robert’s Stochastic Thoughts) Politico End Zone Dance The cover article of politico is a concession by Blake Hounshell that he was wrong and that I and many others were right. I enjoy a little end zone dance in comments The case is overwhelmingly convincing. Also none of the critical evidence is new. As […]
It’s called the Accountable Capitalism Act. Here’s the bill text. Yves Smith has a take on this…lots of talk in the news econ sections: Elizabeth Warren introduced her Accountable Capitalism Act in the Senate yesterday and set forth the logic of her bill in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. The Massachusetts senator described how as […]
Kevin Hassett In Lie Lie Land I feel sorry for Kevin Hassett. Of course he made a complete fool of himself two decades ago with his book on Dow 36,000 (still some ways away) with James Glassman, but he has had a good amount of time to get over that embarrassment. When he was appointed CEA Chair […]
Gimme Shelter: the rental affordability crisis has worsened Four years ago HUD warned of “the worst rental affordability crisis ever,” citing statistics that About half of renters spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent, up from 18 percent a decade ago, according to newly released research by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Twenty-seven percent […]