America's Economic Future – A Discussion By Ted Kavadas
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 …
I have written extensively about U.S. interest rates and their importance. Rising interest rates have substantial ramifications for many aspects of the current-day economy. My commentaries with regard to interest rates and the bond bubble are largely found under the “bond bubble” tag. From an intervention perspective commentary is found under the “Intervention” category. …
I found various notable items in Walmart’s Q3 2017 management call transcript (pdf) dated November 17, 2016. (as well, there is Walmart’s press release of the Q3 results 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 …
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 …
On November 1, 2016 Gallup released the poll results titled “Ahead of Election, Americans’ Confidence in Economy Steady.” Notable excerpts include: Americans’ confidence in the U.S. economy has been stable for three months since the Democratic National Convention held in late July helped boost assessments of the economy. The index averaged -11 in October, similar …
Doug Short had a blog post of October 28, 2016 (“Michigan Consumer Sentiment : October Final Declines“) 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 …
While the concept of Americans’ incomes can be defined in a number of ways, many prominent measures continue to show disconcerting trends. One prominent measure is the Employment Cost Index (ECI). Here is a description from the BLS document titled “The Employment Cost Index: what is it?“: The Employment Cost Index (ECI) is a quarterly …
Here are three charts from the St. Louis Fed depicting the velocity of money in terms of the MZM, M1 and M2 money supply measures. All charts reflect quarterly data through the 3rd quarter of 2016, and were last updated as of October 28, 2016. As one can see, two of the three measures are at an …
For reference purposes, below is a chart from Doug Short’s “Q3 GDP Advance Estimate: A Surprising Strong 2.9%” post of October 28, 2016, depicting Real GDP, with a trendline, as depicted. This chart reflects the Gross Domestic Product Q3 2016 Advance Estimate (pdf) of October 28, 2016: _____ The Special Note summarizes my overall thoughts about our economic situation SPX …
I have written many blog posts concerning the worrisome trends in income and earnings. Doug Short, in his October 27, 2016 post titled “Real Median Household Income: Weak Momentum in 2016” produced the chart below. It is based upon data from Sentier Research, and it shows both nominal and real median household incomes since 2000, as …