U.S. Dollar Target

On July 8 I wrote my last post concerning the U.S. Dollar.  In the last line of that post I said “…I continue to believe the U.S. Dollar is highly vulnerable to a substantial decline.” As “substantial decline” is somewhat open to interpretation, I would like to clarify what I meant. Here is a chart …

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Updates On Economic Indicators July 2010

Here is an update on various indicators that are supposed to predict and/or depict economic activity.  These indicators have been discussed in previous blog posts: The July Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI)(pdf) updated as of July 26, 2010: The Consumer Metrics Institute Contraction Watch: The USA TODAY/IHS Global Insight Economic Outlook Index: An excerpt …

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Consumer Metrics Institute’s Readings

I have been following The Consumer Metrics Institute’s work since March.  I have previously written two posts focusing on their work (both found on March 31), as well as included it in the monthly “Updates On Economic Indicators.” To briefly summarize, I find their work and methodologies very interesting, especially given that they appear quite …

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4 Confidence Charts

Here are four charts reflecting confidence survey readings.  These are from the SentimenTrader.com site. I find these charts valuable as they provide a long-term history of each survey, which is rare. Each survey chart is plotted in blue, below the S&P500: (click on each chart to enlarge image) Conference Board Consumer Confidence, last updated 6-29-10: …

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Infrastructure And The Economy

The Wall Street Journal had an article on July 17-18 titled “Roads to Ruin: Towns Rip Up the Pavement.” The story highlights the practice of converting paved roads to gravel instead of repaving them in order to save money. This is yet another example of our (national) inability to maintain our infrastructure. I believe that …

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2-Year Treasury: Odd Occurrences

I have written of “odd occurrences” and their significance, most recently in the July 14 post. The yield of the 2-Year Treasury is one example of these “odd occurrences.”  Here is a 3 year daily chart: click on chart to enlarge image; chart courtesy of StockCharts.com Plotted below the 2-Year Treasury yield is the price …

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Finance Reform Bill – A Few Comments

With regard to the finance reform bill, I found a few comments in Friday’s (July 16) Wall Street Journal to be notable. First, this quote from a story titled “Impact to Reach Beyond Wall Street”: “”The bill does not respond at all to the causes of the financial crisis,” said Peter Wallison, a former Reagan …

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The July 2010 Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Survey

I found a few items of interest in The July Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Survey. The economists surveyed continue to place a relatively low probability on a “double-dip” recession.  As stated in the article, “Economists, on average, now see the odds of double-dip recession at 20%.” As well, there a variety of interesting questions …

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