The U.S. Economic Situation – August 22, 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, …

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

EPS Forecasts For The S&P500 For 2018, 2019, And 2020

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 24 of the “S&P500 Earnings Scorecard” (pdf) of August 20, 2018, and represent an aggregation of individual S&P500 component “bottom up” analyst forecasts.  For reference, …

Read more

Standard & Poor’s S&P500 EPS Estimates 2018 2019 – August 16, 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 August 16, 2018: Year 2018 estimates add to the following: -From a “bottom up” perspective, operating earnings of $158.01/share -From …

Read more

Walmart’s Q2 2019 Results – Comments

I found various notable items in Walmart’s Q2 2019 management call transcript (pdf) dated August 16, 2018.  (as well, there is Walmart’s press release of the Q2 results (pdf) and related presentation materials) I view Walmart’s results and comments as particularly noteworthy given their retail prominence and focus on low prices.  I have previously commented on their quarterly management call comments; these previous posts …

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 August 9, 2018 update (reflecting data through August 3, 2018) is -1.214. Of course, there are a variety of other measures and indices that are supposed to measure financial stress and other …

Read more

Charts Indicating Economic Weakness – August 2018

U.S. Economic Indicators Throughout this site there are many discussions of economic indicators.  At this time, the readings of various indicators are especially notable.  This post is the latest in a series of posts indicating U.S. economic weakness or a notably low growth rate. While many U.S. economic indicators – including GDP – are indicating economic growth, others …

Read more

Philadelphia Fed – 3rd Quarter 2018 Survey Of Professional Forecasters

The Philadelphia Fed 3rd Quarter 2018 Survey of Professional Forecasters was released on August 10, 2018.  This survey is somewhat unique in various regards, such as it incorporates a longer time frame for various measures. The survey shows, among many measures, the following median expectations: Real GDP: (annual average level) full-year 2018:  2.8% full-year 2019:  2.8% full-year 2020:  …

Read more