Disturbing Charts (Update 5)

I find the following charts to be disturbing.   These charts would be disturbing at any point in the economic cycle; that they depict such a tenuous situation now – 28 months after the official (as per the 9-20-10 NBER announcement) June 2009 end of the recession – is especially notable. These charts raise a lot …

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Recession Measures – Updated

This post is the latest update to a series of blog posts seen on the CalculatedRisk.com blog.  The original blog post of April 12, 2010, is titled “Recession Measures.” In it, Bill discussed key measures that the NBER uses to determine recoveries, and posted four charts. Here are those charts, updated in his October 30, 2011 post titled …

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Updates On Economic Indicators October 2011

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 October Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI)(pdf) updated as of October 24, 2011: – The USA TODAY/IHS Global Insight Economic Outlook Index: An excerpt from the September 27 update titled “Index forecasts …

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PPI,CPI & Profit Margin Trends – October 2011 Update

In various past posts I have written of the challenges businesses face in pricing, given today’s economic environment.  One aspect that I mentioned in the April 25 2011 and December 16 2010 posts was how the PPI (Producer Price Index) growth was significantly outpacing that of the CPI. Since those posts, this PPI-CPI growth rate issue has remained notable.  …

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St. Louis Financial Stress Index – October 20 Update

On March 28 I wrote a post (“The STLFSI“) about the  STLFSI (St. Louis Fed’s Financial Stress Index) which is supposed to measure stress in the financial system.  Here is the most recent chart.  This chart was last updated on October 20, incorporating data from 12-31-93 to 10-14-11 on a weekly basis.  The present level …

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October 19 Gallup Poll On Americans’ Personal Finances – Notable Excerpts

On October 19, Gallup released poll results titled “Americans Grow More Negative About Their Personal Finances.” I find this poll interesting for a variety of reasons; perhaps chief among them is as another indication of growing financial strain among households.  A few excerpts of note: Nearly one in four U.S. adults (22%) now rate their personal …

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Conference Board CEO Confidence 3Q 2011

On October 7, I wrote a post about the latest Business Roundtable’s CEO Economic Outlook Survey and the Duke/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey titled “CEO & CFO Surveys 3Q 2011.” Subsequent to that post, on October 11, The Conference Board released its 3rd Quarter CEO Confidence Survey.   The overall measure of CEO Confidence was at …

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