Consumer Confidence Surveys – As Of May 31, 2012

Doug Short had a blog post of May 29 (“May Consumer Confidence:  The Third Month of Shrinkage“) in which he presents the Conference Board Consumer Confidence and Thomson/Reuters University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index charts.  They are presented below: (click on charts to enlarge images) – – There are a few aspects of the above charts that …

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Trends In Real Personal Income Growth

In various posts I have commented about the troubling long- and short-term trends in income growth.  (Many of these past posts are seen under the “household income” tag) While there are many ways to measure these income trends, regardless of the measurement or time period used, the trends appear worrisome. As I highlighted in the …

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St. Louis Financial Stress Index – May 24, 2012 Update

On March 28, 2011 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.  For reference purposes, the most recent chart is seen below.  This chart was last updated on May 24, incorporating data from 12-31-93 to 5-18-12 on a …

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The Importance Of Revenue Growth To Hiring

Last Thursday, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve released the May 2012 Business Outlook Survey. One aspect I found particularly notable was a chart indicating responses to “Factors Restraining Hiring.”  As indicated, the foremost response was “Expected growth of sales is low.” In various blog posts – including the April 24 post titled “The Unemployment Situation Facing …

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Updates On Economic Indicators May 2012

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 May Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI)(pdf) updated as of May 21, 2012: – The USA TODAY/IHS Global Insight Economic Outlook Index: An excerpt from the April 26 update titled “Index …

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Walmart’s Q1 2013 Results – Comments

I found various notable items in Walmart’s Q1 2013 earnings call transcript (pdf) dated May 17, 2012.  I view Walmart’s results and comments as particularly noteworthy given their retail prominence and focus on low prices.  I have previously commented on their quarterly conference call comments; these previous posts are found under the “paycheck to paycheck” tag. Here are various excerpts …

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St. Louis Financial Stress Index – May 17, 2012 Update

On March 28, 2011 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.  For reference purposes, the most recent chart is seen below.  This chart was last updated on May 11, incorporating data from 12-31-93 to 5-11-12 on a …

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