St. Louis Financial Stress Index – September 27, 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 September 27, incorporating data from December 31,1993 to September 21, …

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Durable Goods New Orders – Long-Term Charts Through August 2012

Many people place emphasis on Durable Goods New Orders as a prominent economic indicator and/or leading economic indicator. For reference, here are a few charts depicting this measure. First, from the St. Louis Fed site (FRED), a chart through August, last updated on September 27.  This value is 198,494 ($ Millions) : (click on charts …

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Deloitte “CFO Signals” Report 3Q 2012 – Notable Aspects

Recently Deloitte released their “CFO Signals” “high-level” report for the 3rd Quarter of 2012. As seen in page 2 of the report, “Eighty-five CFOs responded during the two weeks ended August 24. More than 75% are from public companies, and 80% are from companies with more than $1B in annual revenue.” Here are some excerpts that I …

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Consumer Confidence Surveys – As Of September 26, 2012

Doug Short had a blog post of September 25 (“September Consumer Confidence Surprises to the Upside“) 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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Financial Stocks – September 25, 2012 Update Concerning Poor “Price Action”

On June 29, 2011 I wrote a blog post titled “Financial Stocks – Notable Price Action.” Although financial stocks have increased in price in 2012, I continue to believe that the longer-term “price action” of various financial stocks is disconcerting.  I view the poor performance of these financial and brokerage stocks to be one indicator …

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Financial Stocks – Relative Price To Overall Stock Market – September 25, 2012 Update

In the June 29, 2011 post (“Financial Stocks – Notable Price Action”) I wrote the following: I think that the relatively poor “price action” of various financial stocks is notable.  It is one of many current indications that overall stock market health is not as strong as a casual glance at the major indices would …

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Updates On Economic Indicators September 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 September Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI)(pdf) updated as of September 24, 2012: – The ECRI WLI (Weekly Leading Index): As of 9/21/12 (incorporating data through 9/14/12) the WLI was at …

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Zillow September 2012 Home Price Expectations Survey – Summary & Comments

On September 20, the Zillow September 2012 Home Price Expectations Survey (pdf) results were released.  This survey is done on a quarterly basis. An image from the brief on the September 2012 Survey, displaying survey responses by quartile,  is seen below: (click on chart image to enlarge) Other charts are also seen in the brief. As one can …

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