The September 2017 Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Survey

The September 2017 Wall Street Journal Economic Forecast Survey was published on September 7, 2017.  The headline is “WSJ Survey:  Economists Expect Next Fed Rate Increase in December.” I found numerous items to be notable – although I don’t necessarily agree with them – both within the article and in the “Economist Q&A” section. An …

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Deflation Probabilities – September 7, 2017 Update

While I do not agree with the current readings of the measure – I think the measure dramatically understates the probability of deflation, as measured by the CPI – the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta maintains an interesting data series titled “Deflation Probabilities.” As stated on the site: Using estimates derived from Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities …

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Building Financial Danger – September 8, 2017 Update

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 numerous posts in this site concerning both ongoing and recent “negative developments.”  These developments, as well as other exceedingly problematic conditions, have presented a highly perilous economic environment …

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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 September 7, 2017 update (reflecting data through September 1, 2017) is -1.506. Of course, there are a variety of other measures and indices that are supposed to measure financial stress and other …

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Charts Indicating Economic Weakness – September 2017

Throughout this site there are many discussions of economic indicators.  At this time, the readings of various indicators are especially notable. While many U.S. economic indicators – including GDP – are indicating economic growth, others depict (or imply) various degrees of weak growth or economic contraction. Below are a small sampling of charts that depict …

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September 5, 2017 Gallup Poll Results On Economic Confidence – Notable Excerpts

On September 5, 2017 Gallup released the poll results titled “U.S. Economic Confidence Surges, Then Declines, in August.” Notable excerpts include: Gallup’s U.S. Economic Confidence Index is the average of two components: how Americans rate current economic conditions and whether they believe the economy is improving or getting worse. The index has a theoretical maximum …

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Charts Of Equities’ Performance Since March 9, 2009 And January 1, 1980 – September 5, 2017 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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