Consumer Confidence Surveys – As Of February 27, 2015

Doug Short had a blog post of February 27, 2015 (“Michigan Consumer Sentiment Remains off Its January Peak“) in which he presents the latest 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 …

Read more

Money Supply Charts Through January 2015

For reference purposes, below are two sets of charts depicting growth in the money supply. The first shows the MZM (Money Zero Maturity), defined in FRED as the following: M2 less small-denomination time deposits plus institutional money funds. Money Zero Maturity is calculated by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Here is the “MZM …

Read more

Durable Goods New Orders – Long-Term Charts Through January 2015

Many people place emphasis on Durable Goods New Orders as a prominent economic indicator and/or leading economic indicator. For reference, below are charts depicting this measure. First, from the St. Louis Fed site (FRED), a chart through January, updated on February 26, 2015.  This value is 236,147 ($ Millions): (click on charts to enlarge images) …

Read more

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 February 19, 2015 update (reflecting data through February 13) is -.928. Of course, there are a variety of other measures and indices that are supposed to measure financial stress and other related …

Read more

Trends Of S&P500 Earnings Forecasts

S&P500 earnings trends and estimates are a notably important topic, for a variety of reasons, at this point in time. FactSet publishes a report titled “Earnings Insight” that contains a variety of information including the trends and expectations of S&P500 earnings. For reference purposes, here are two charts as seen in the “Earnings Insight” (pdf) report of …

Read more

S&P500 Earnings Estimates – Years 2014 Through 2016

As many are aware, Thomson Reuters publishes earnings estimates for the S&P500.  (My other posts concerning S&P earnings estimates can be found under the S&P500 Earnings tag) The following estimates are from Exhibit 12 of “The Director’s Report” (pdf) of February 23, 2015, and represent an aggregation of individual S&P500 component “bottom up” analyst forecasts.  For reference, the Year …

Read more

Standard & Poor’s S&P500 Earnings Estimates For 2015 & 2016 – As Of February 19, 2015

As many are aware, Standard & Poor’s publishes earnings estimates for the S&P500.  (My posts concerning their estimates can be found under the S&P500 Earnings tag) For reference purposes, the most current estimates are reflected below, and are as of February 19, 2015: Year 2015 estimates add to the following: -From a “bottom up” perspective, operating earnings of $118.32/share …

Read more

Updates Of Economic Indicators February 2015

Here is an update of various indicators that are supposed to predict and/or depict economic activity. These indicators have been discussed in previous blog posts: The February 2015 Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) updated as of February 23, 2015: – The ECRI WLI (Weekly Leading Index): As of February 20, 2015 (incorporating data through February …

Read more

The U.S. Economic Situation – February 23, 2015 Update

Perhaps the main reason that I write of our economic situation is that I continue to believe, based upon various analyses, that our economic situation is in many ways misunderstood.  While no one likes to contemplate a future rife with economic adversity, current and future economic problems must be properly recognized and rectified if high-quality, …

Read more