Markets During Periods Of Federal Reserve Intervention – June 15, 2018 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 (through June 15, 2018) from the Doug Short …

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Charts Indicating Economic Weakness – June 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 …

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Total Household Net Worth As A Percent Of GDP 1Q 2018

The following chart is from the CalculatedRisk post of June 7, 2018 titled “Fed’s Flow of Funds:  Household Net Worth increased in Q1.” It depicts Total Household Net Worth as a Percent of GDP.  The underlying data is from the Federal Reserve’s Z.1 report, “Financial Accounts of the United States“: (click on chart to enlarge image) As seen in …

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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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Consumer Confidence Surveys – As Of May 29, 2018

Doug Short’s site had a post of May 29, 2018 (“Consumer Confidence Improves in May“) that displays 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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Money Supply Charts Through April 2018

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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Walmart’s Q1 2019 Results – Comments

I found various notable items in Walmart’s Q1 2019 management call transcript (pdf) dated May 17, 2018.  (as well, there is Walmart’s press release of the Q1 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 …

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Charts Indicating Economic Weakness – May 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 …

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