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 January 18, 2018 update (reflecting data through January 12, 2018) is -1.492. Of course, there are a variety of other measures and indices that are supposed to measure financial stress and other …

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Money Supply Charts Through December 2017

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 – January 23, 2018 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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Updates Of Economic Indicators January 2018

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 January 2018 Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) updated as of January 22, 2018: The CFNAI, with current reading of .27: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Chicago Fed National Activity …

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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 …

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S&P500 Bottom Up EPS Forecasts Years 2017, 2018 And 2019

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 23 of the “S&P500 Earnings Scorecard” (pdf) of January 16, 2018, and represent an aggregation of individual S&P500 component “bottom up” analyst forecasts.  For reference, …

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Standard & Poor’s S&P500 Earnings Estimates For 2018 And 2019 – As Of January 12, 2018

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 January 12, 2018: Year 2018 estimates add to the following: -From a “bottom up” perspective, operating earnings of $149.04/share …

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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 January 18, 2018 update (reflecting data through January 12, 2018) is -1.492. Of course, there are a variety of other measures and indices that are supposed to measure financial stress and other …

Read more

Disturbing Charts (Update 29)

I find the following charts to be disturbing.   These charts would be disturbing at any point in the economic cycle; that they (on average) depict such a tenuous situation now – 103 months after the official (as per the September 20, 2010 NBER BCDC announcement) June 2009 end of the recession – is especially notable. These …

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