June 2012

The S&P500 Vs. The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index – June 21, 2012

June 21, 2012 by Ted Kavadas

Starting on May 3, 2010 I have written posts concerning the notable divergence that has occurred between the S&P500 and Chinese (Shanghai Composite) stock markets. The chart below illustrates this divergence; it shows the S&P500 vs. the Shanghai Composite on a daily basis, since 2006: (click on chart to enlarge image)(chart courtesy of StockCharts.com; chart creation and annotation by …

The June 2012 Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Survey

June 19, 2012 by Ted Kavadas

The June Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Survey was published on June 16, 2012. The headline is “Recovery Slows as Global Risks Rise.” I found various excerpts to be notable, including the following: Most economists still expect the U.S. to avoid falling into a recession. But they project lackluster growth of about 2% for the …

Food Stamps As Of May 31, 2012

June 18, 2012 by Ted Kavadas

This post is an update to previous posts concerning food stamps. The program is officially called “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” or SNAP. As stated on the SNAP website, “As of Oct. 1, 2008, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the new name for the federal Food Stamp Program.” The data was last updated May 31, 2012, reflecting March 2012 levels. …

Long-Term Charts Of The ECRI WLI & ECRI WLI, Gr. – June 15, 2012 Update

June 17, 2012 by Ted Kavadas

As I stated in my July 12, 2010 post (“ECRI WLI Growth History“): For a variety of reasons, I am not as enamored with ECRI’s WLI and WLI Growth measures as many are. However, I do think the measures are important and deserve close monitoring and scrutiny. The movement of the ECRI WLI and WLI, …

St. Louis Financial Stress Index – June 14, 2012 Update

June 15, 2012 by Ted Kavadas

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 14, incorporating data from December 31,1993 to June 8, …

NFIB Small Business Optimism – May 2012

June 14, 2012 by Ted Kavadas

The May NFIB Small Business Optimism report was released on June 12. The headline of the Press Release is “Small-Business Optimism Index Stagnates: No Progress Made for Small-Business Sector in May.” The Index of Small Business Optimism fell by .1 point in May, to 94.4. Here are some excerpts from the report that I find …

June 2012 Duke/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey – Notable Excerpts

June 12, 2012 by Ted Kavadas

On June 6 the June Duke/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey (pdf) was released. It contains a variety of statistics regarding how CFOs view business and economic conditions. In this CFO Survey, I found the following to be notable excerpts: U.S. finance chiefs plan to expand workforce by 2.5 percent, on average over the next year. Nearly 30 …

Family Finances – Report Covering 2007-2010

June 12, 2012 by Ted Kavadas

Yesterday, the Federal Reserve released a report titled “Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2007 to 2010: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances.” (pdf) This report is issued every three years. The report is 80 pages long. However, some of the summary statistics have been widely reported, such as in today’s Wall Street Journal …

misc. note – corrections of blog posts

June 11, 2012 by Ted Kavadas

In the July 2, 2010 post I explained my policy with regard to changing the content of posts after the day the posts have been published on the blog.

S&P500 Price Projections – Livingston Survey June 2012

June 11, 2012June 11, 2012 by Ted Kavadas

The June 7, 2012 Livingston Survey (pdf) contains, among its various forecasts, a S&P500 forecast. It shows the following price forecast for the dates shown: June 29, 2012 1325.4 Dec. 31, 2012 1393 June 28, 2013 1449.2 Dec. 31, 2013 1490.3 These figures represent the median value across the 32 forecasters on …