Disturbing Charts (Update 14)

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 – 58 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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Markets During Periods Of Federal Reserve Intervention – April 11, 2014 Update

In the August 9, 2011 post (“QE3 – Various Thoughts“) I posted a chart that depicted the movements of the S&P500, 10-Year Treasury Yield and the Fed Funds rate spanning the periods of various Federal Reserve interventions since 2007. For reference purposes, here is an updated chart from Doug Short’s blog post of April 10 …

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Average Hourly Earnings Trends

I have written many blog posts concerning the worrisome trends in income and earnings. Along these lines, one of the measures showing disconcerting trends is that of hourly earnings. While the concept of hourly earnings can be defined and measured in a variety of ways, below are a few charts that I believe broadly illustrate problematic …

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April 1 Gallup Poll Results On Economic Confidence – Notable Excerpts

On April 1, 2014 Gallup released the poll results titled “In U.S., Economic Confidence Holds Steady in March.”  The subtitle is “Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index averages -17, similar to past two months.” Notable excerpts include: Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index averaged -17 in March, essentially the same as the -16 measured in January and February. also: The …

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Consumer Confidence Surveys – As Of March 28, 2014

Doug Short had a blog post of March 28, 2014 (“Michigan Consumer Sentiment…“) 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 find highly …

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Durable Goods New Orders – Long-Term Charts Through February 2014

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 February, last updated on March 26, 2014.  This value is 229,379 ($ Millions) : (click on charts to …

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Current Economic Situation

With regard to our current economic situation, my thoughts can best be described/summarized by the posts found under the 34 “Building Financial Danger” posts. My thoughts concerning our ongoing economic situation – with future implications – can be seen on the page titled “A Special Note On Our Economic Situation,” which has been found near …

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Median Household Income Chart

I have written many blog posts concerning the worrisome trends in income and earnings. Doug Short, in his March 20, 2014 post titled “Real Median Household Income Is About $4500 Off Its 2008 High” produced the chart below.  It is based upon data from Sentier Research, and it shows both nominal and real median household incomes since …

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Average Hourly Earnings Trends

I have written many blog posts concerning the worrisome trends in income and earnings. Along these lines, one of the measures showing disconcerting trends is that of hourly earnings. While the concept of hourly earnings can be defined and measured in a variety of ways, below are a few charts that I believe broadly illustrate problematic …

Read more