Markets During Periods Of Federal Reserve Intervention – June 20, 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 June 20 …

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The Prospect Of Deflation

Deflation and the potential for such a condition to develop is currently a topic of paramount importance, for a variety of reasons.  [note: to clarify, for purposes of this discussion, when I mention “deflation” I am referring to the CPI going below zero.] As one can see in the various professional economic forecasts mentioned in this …

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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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June 4 Gallup Poll Results On Economic Confidence – Notable Excerpts

On June 4, Gallup released the poll results titled “U.S. Economic Confidence Continues to Improve in May”  The subtitle is “Upper-income Americans’ Confidence enters positive territory.” Notable excerpts include: Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index surged to -7 in May, the highest monthly score since Gallup began tracking economic confidence daily in 2008. The current score surpasses the …

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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 May 29 blog post, titled “Real Median Household Incomes:  Up .5% in April But Only a Fractional .6% Year-over-Year” produced the chart below.  It is based upon data from Sentier Research, and it shows both nominal and real median …

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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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