Total Household Net Worth As A Percent Of GDP 3Q 2014

The following chart is from the CalculatedRisk blog post of December 11, 2014 titled “Fed’s Flow of Funds:  Household Net Worth ‘dipped slightly’ in Q3.” It depicts Total Household Net Worth as a Percent of GDP.  The underlying data is from the Federal Reserve’s Z.1 report, “Financial Accounts of the United States“: (click on chart to enlarge image) As …

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Chicago Fed National Financial Conditions Index (NFCI)

The St. Louis Fed’s Financial Stress Index (STLFSI) is one index that is supposed to measure stress in the financial system.  Its reading as of the December 4, 2014 update (reflecting data through November 28) is -1.137. Of course, there are a variety of other measures and indices that are supposed to measure financial stress and other related …

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NFIB Small Business Optimism – December 2014

The December NFIB Small Business Optimism report was released today, December 9, 2014. The headline of the Small Business Economic Trends report is “NFIB:  Small Business Optimism Perks Up In December. ” The Index of Small Business Optimism increased 2.0 points in November to 98.1. Here are some excerpts from that I find particularly notable …

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Charts Of Equities’ Performance Since March 9, 2009 And January 1, 1980 – December 9, 2014 Update

In the March 9, 2012 post (“Charts of Equities’ Performance Since March 9, 2009 And January 1, 1980“) I highlighted two charts for reference purposes. Below are those two charts, updated through the latest daily closing price. The first is a daily chart of the S&P500 (shown in green), as well as five prominent (AAPL, IBM, …

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Building Financial Danger – December 8, 2014 Update

On October 17, 2011 I wrote a post titled “Danger Signs In The Stock Market, Financial System And Economy.”  This post is a brief 43nd update to that post. My overall analysis indicates a continuing elevated and growing level of financial danger which contains many worldwide and U.S.-specific “stresses” of a very complex nature. I have written …

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Median Household Income Chart

I have written many blog posts concerning the worrisome trends in income and earnings. Doug Short, in his December 5, 2014 post titled “Real Median Household Income Declined .59% in October” produced the chart below.  It is based upon data from Sentier Research, and it shows both nominal and real median household incomes since 2000, as depicted. …

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Average Hourly Earnings Trends

I have written many blog posts concerning the worrisome trends in income and earnings. Along these lines, one of the measures showing disconcerting trends is that of hourly earnings. While the concept of hourly earnings can be defined and measured in a variety of ways, below are a few charts that I believe broadly illustrate problematic …

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