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 August 25, 2016 update (reflecting data through August 19) is -1.145. 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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House Prices Reference Chart

As a reference for long-term house price index trends, below is a chart, updated with the most current data (through June) from the CalculatedRisk blog post of August 30, 2016 titled “Real Prices and Price-to-Rent Ratio in June”: (click on chart to enlarge image) _____ The Special Note summarizes my overall thoughts about our economic situation SPX …

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Consumer Confidence Surveys – As Of August 30, 2016

Doug Short had a blog post of August 30, 2016 (“Consumer Confidence at 11-month High“) 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 charts that I …

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Corporate Profits As A Percentage Of GDP

In the last post (“2nd Quarter 2016 Corporate Profits“) I displayed, for reference purposes, a long-term chart depicting Corporate Profits After Tax. There are many ways to view this measure, both on an absolute as well as relative basis. One relative measure is viewing Corporate Profits as a Percentage of GDP.  I feel that this …

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2nd Quarter 2016 Corporate Profits

Friday’s (August 26, 2016) GDP release (Q2, 2nd Estimate)(pdf) was accompanied by the BLS Corporate Profits report for the 2nd Quarter. Of course, there are many ways to adjust and depict overall Corporate Profits.  For reference purposes, here is a chart from the St. Louis Federal Reserve (FRED) showing the Corporate Profits After Tax (without IVA …

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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 August 18, 2016 update (reflecting data through August 12) is -1.094. 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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Money Supply Charts Through July 2016

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 …

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The U.S. Economic Situation – August 23, 2016 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, …

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