America's Economic Future – A Discussion By Ted Kavadas
The September NFIB Small Business Optimism report was released today, October 9. The headline of the Press Release is “Hiring Plans Plunge: Small Business Optimism Drops .1, Expectations for the Future Remain Low.” The Index of Small Business Optimism fell by .1 point in September to 92.8. Here are some excerpts from the Press Release …
On October 4, The Conference Board released its 3rd Quarter CEO Confidence Survey. The overall measure of CEO Confidence was at 42, down from 47 in the second quarter. Notable excerpts from this October 4 Press Release include: Says Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board: “This latest report reflects ongoing concern about …
Shortly after each monthly employment report I have been posting a continual series titled “3 Critical Unemployment Charts.” Of course, there are many other employment charts that can be displayed as well. For reference purposes, below are the U-3 and U-6 Unemployment Rate charts from a long-term historical perspective. Both charts are from the St. …
As I have commented previously, as in the October 6, 2009 post (“A Note About Unemployment Statistics”), in my opinion the official methodologies used to measure the various job loss and unemployment statistics do not provide an accurate depiction; they serve to understate the severity of unemployment. However, even if one chooses to look at the …
As I stated in my July 12, 2010 post (“ECRI WLI Growth History“): For a variety of reasons, I am not as enamored with ECRI’s WLI and WLI Growth measures as many are. However, I do think the measures are important and deserve close monitoring and scrutiny. The movement of the ECRI WLI and WLI, …
On March 28, 2011 I wrote a post (“The STLFSI“) about the STLFSI (St. Louis Fed’s Financial Stress Index) which is supposed to measure stress in the financial system. For reference purposes, the most recent chart is seen below. This chart was last updated on October 4, incorporating data from December 31,1993 to September 28, …
On October 2, Gallup released the poll results titled “Monthly U.S. Economic Confidence Up Sharply in September.” The subtitle is “Confidence surged in early September and remained elevated throughout the month.” Three of the most notable excerpts: The Gallup Economic Confidence Index averaged -19 in September, up from -27 in August and nearly matching the -17 seen in …
U.S. Dollar weakness is a foremost concern of mine. As such, I have extensively written about it. I am very concerned that the actions being taken to “improve” our economic situation will dramatically weaken the Dollar. Should the Dollar substantially decline from here, as I expect, the negative consequences will far outweigh any benefits. The negative impact …
As I stated in my July 12, 2010 post (“ECRI WLI Growth History“): For a variety of reasons, I am not as enamored with ECRI’s WLI and WLI Growth measures as many are. However, I do think the measures are important and deserve close monitoring and scrutiny. The movement of the ECRI WLI and WLI, …
On March 28, 2011 I wrote a post (“The STLFSI“) about the STLFSI (St. Louis Fed’s Financial Stress Index) which is supposed to measure stress in the financial system. For reference purposes, the most recent chart is seen below. This chart was last updated on September 27, incorporating data from December 31,1993 to September 21, …