– by New Deal democrat I’m glad I waited a day to write about yesterday’s JOLTS report for December, because I got to read a lot of other commentary on the report, which convinced me to add some additional commentary about the entire JOLTS series. Let’s start with the fact that it was not “stale” inasmuch […]
– by New Deal democrat With another likely government shutdown looming at the end of this week due to DHS funding, we are still playing catch-up from the last one that ended in November. This morning’s edition of stale data was durable goods manufacturing for November. One of the stories of the latter part of last […]
– by New Deal democrat Industrial production is much less central to the US economic picture than it was before the “China shock,” but it remains an important if diminished economic indicator, particularly since the month it has peaked in the past has typically been the month the NBER has chosen as the economic cycle peak. […]
– by New Deal democrat Last Friday I summarized the jobs report as “show[ing] a contracting jobs market in all important metrics except the headlines (which, for the record, were positive). …[A]lmost] all of the important leading metrics … were negative, [including the] goods-producing sectors – manufacturing, construction (including residential construction), and temporary jobs – declined, as […]
– by New Deal democrat [Note: Housing permits, starts, and units under construction were also updated this morning for September and October. I will post my remarks on this report on Monday; but in summary I can say it remained recessionary, with some possible “green shoots” that may indicate a bottom.] This morning’s jobs report for […]
Preliminary Information . . . During the Vietnan conflict or war, I served with other nationalities who were “not” citizens. Never gave it a thought as we all worked together in the Corps. The question was why would they serve in the military of a country where they were not citizens? Upon enlistment, they were […]
– by New Deal democrat We are still suffering the data aftereffects of the government shutdown. Normally we begin each month with reports on both construction spending as well as manufacturing. But the construction report even now has only been updated through August, and won’t be updated for September and October until January 21. And […]
– by New Deal democrat My ”Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. The year ended with a magnification of several trends that have been a theme all year: the US $ is down almost 10%, largely responsible for a nearly 15% rise in commodity prices, while consumer spending ended with a bang as well. “Commerce […]
– by New Deal democrat Our last bit of news before Christmas continued the positive news, as initial jobless claims declined back to 214,000, while the four week average also declined to 216,750. The last three weeks collectively have had the lowest seasonally adjusted numbers since January. Meanwhile, continuing claims rose back above 1.9 million to […]
Hoping this Christmas finds Angry Bear readers and commenters happy, of good health, and with family. There were years when I was away from family. It was not the same even though we had a good meal in the Mess Hall. Maybe you know of someone who is away from family and home and have […]