St. Louis Financial Stress Index – June 28, 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 June 28, incorporating data from December 31,1993 to June 22, …

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House Prices Reference Chart

As a reference for long-term house price index trends, below is a chart, updated through the April data, from the CalculatedRisk blog post of June 26 titled “Real House Prices and Price-to-Rent Ratio” : (click on chart image to enlarge) _____ The Special Note summarizes my overall thoughts about our economic situation SPX at 1319.99 as this …

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Zillow June 2012 Home Price Expectations Survey – Summary & Comments

On June 24, the Zillow June 2012 Home Price Expectations Survey results were released.  This survey is done on a quarterly basis. An accompanying image is seen below: (click on chart image to enlarge) As one can see from the above chart, the average expectation is that the residential real estate market, as depicted by the Case-Shiller …

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Updates On Economic Indicators June 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 June Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI)(pdf) updated as of June 25, 2012: – The USA TODAY/IHS Global Insight Economic Outlook Index: An excerpt from the May 24 update titled “Index …

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Ben Bernanke’s June 20, 2012 Press Conference – Notable Aspects

On Wednesday, June 20, 2012 Ben Bernanke gave his scheduled press conference.

Here are Ben Bernanke’s comments I found most notable – although I don’t necessarily agree with them – in the order they appear in the transcript.  These comments are excerpted from the “Transcript of Chairman Bernanke’s Press Conference“(preliminary)(pdf) of June 20, 2012, with accompanying Economic Projections of Federal Reserve Board Members and Federal Reserve Bank Presidents, June 2012 (pdf).

Bernanke’s responses as indicated to the various questions:

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Articles Remembering Anna J. Schwartz

Two well-written articles remembering the life of Anna J. Schwartz include the June 21 New York Times article titled “Anna Schwartz, Economist Who Worked With Friedman, Dies at 96” as well as the June 22 Bloomberg BusinessWeek article titled “Anna Schwartz, Economist Milton Friedman’s Co-Author, Dies at 96.” Although both article are well worth reading …

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St. Louis Financial Stress Index – June 21, 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 June 21, incorporating data from December 31,1993 to June 15, …

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