Current Economic Situation

With regard to our current economic situation,  my thoughts can best be described/summarized by the posts found under the 28 “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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Broad-Based Indicators Of Economic Activity

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) and the Aruoba-Diebold-Scotti Business Conditions Index (ADS Index) are two broad-based economic indicators that I regularly feature in this site. The current levels of each are notable, as they are vacillating from a short-term perspective and their long-term trends continue to sink. Doug Short, in his blog post …

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Has The Financial System Strengthened Since The Financial Crisis?

The last two weeks have seen a variety of articles that discuss the five-year anniversary of the Financial Crisis of 2008, of which many date to the bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008.  One frequent topic is whether today’s financial system has been sufficiently “strengthened” since September of 2008, so that subsequent …

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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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September 3 Gallup Poll Results On Economic Confidence – Notable Excerpts

On September 3, Gallup released the poll results titled “U.S. Economic Confidence Lingers at Lower Level in August.”  The subtitle is “Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index registers -13, similar to -12 in July.” Notable excerpts include: Americans remained more negative than positive last month about economic conditions in the U.S. The Gallup Economic Confidence Index averaged -13 …

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Consumer Confidence Surveys – As Of August 27, 2013

Doug Short had a blog post of August 27 (“Consumer Confidence Comes in Above Expectations“) 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 …

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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 27 “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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Markets During Periods Of Federal Reserve Intervention – August 16, 2013 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 August 17 …

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Walmart’s Q2 2014 Results – Comments

I found various notable items in Walmart’s Q2 2014 earnings call transcript (pdf) dated August 15, 2013.  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 conference call comments; these previous posts are found under the “paycheck to paycheck” tag. Here are various excerpts …

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