The Japanese economy grew 3.9% at a seasonally-adjusted annualized rate in Q3 2010 and over 2X the pace in Q2 2010 (data here). According to Bloomberg, the headwinds to Q4 growth are household consumption and the yen: Consumption, accounting for about 60 percent of GDP, led the gain as households stepped up purchases of fuel-efficient […]

The Federal Statistics Office reported that German consumer prices increased 0.2% on a seasonally-adjusted basis in October, translating into a 1.3% annual gain on a harmonized basis. German prices are very sticky, since the domestic economy doesn’t see the boom and bust cyclical behavior like that in other developed economies. However, inflation may headed north, […]

By Noni Mausa The Promise Merchants Part II — Postulates(Dan here…reformatted from the original posted earlier) 1. There is always [1] excess production. Individual human beingscannot produce enough to live comfortably, but people in groups can’thelp but overproduce. 2. People can’t stop producing. The time, attention and efforts ofhuman beings are expended continuously. Their energy […]

A few articles regarding the bond crisis in Ireland: The Irish Mess (IV)ECB buying of Irish bonds ‘vital’ supportThe world backs away from Ireland, Spain, PortugalIn keeping with Halloween, here’s a scary oneEU leaders trigger another bond market crisisIreland fifth best place to live (a separate issue, of course) Yves Smith’s article (first link) is […]

The coming week is G4 central bank week. The Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) announces its policy decision on November 3; the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE) will make policy announcements on November 4; and the Bank of Japan pushed forward its November 15-16 meeting to be held now on November […]

by Linda Beale Economic stimulus–the right and the wrong of itcrossposted with Ataxingmatter Clearly, for ordinary Americans, the US economy is still in a funk from the financial crisis caused by the housing boom funded by the easy credit of turnover securitization of mortgage loans, coupled with the casino banking mentality spurred by proprietary trading […]

Yesterday Eurostat released the September unemployment rate figures for the European Union and the Eurozone. From the release: The euro area1 (EA16) seasonally-adjusted2 unemployment rate3 was 10.1% in September 2010, compared with [downward revised] 10.0% in August4. It was 9.8% in September 2009. The EU27 unemployment rate was 9.6% in September 2010, unchanged compared with […]

The Japanese yen, the Eurozone euro, and the British pound have appreciated 16%, 14%, and 9%, against the USD, respectively, since their 2010 lows. Some say that the “US wins” since the Fed’s quantitative easing (QE2) will drive export growth via a weaker dollar. (Note that the Fed has not actually announced QE2, this is […]

I present an update on aggregate demand using the highest frequency of economic data available, US Treasury tax receipts. Tax receipts serve as a proxy for nominal aggregate demand via a nominal indicator of private payroll growth. US daily Treasury tax receipts are improving. (This chart has been modified since its original posting to enable […]

China took the world by surprise on Tuesday by raising bank lending and deposit rates for the first time since 2007. The story is, that restrictive monetary policy (i.e., raising rates) is needed to curb excessive lending, with an eye on mitigating inflation pressures. See this Bloomberg article to the point. While restrictive monetary policy […]