Chicago Fed National Financial Conditions Index (NFCI)

The St. Louis Fed’s Financial Stress Index (STLFSI4) is one index that is supposed to measure stress in the financial system. Its reading as of the March 7, 2024 update (reflecting data through March 1, 2024) is -.7760: source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, St. Louis Fed Financial Stress Index [STLFSI4], retrieved from FRED, …

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Long-Term Charts Of U.S. Equity Indexes As Of March 1, 2024

StockCharts.com maintains long-term historical charts of various major stock market indices, interest rates, currencies, commodities, and economic indicators. As a long-term reference, below are charts depicting various stock market indices for the dates shown.  All charts are depicted on a monthly basis using a LOG scale. (click on charts to enlarge images)(charts courtesy of StockCharts.com) The …

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Consumer Confidence Surveys – As Of March 1, 2024

Advisor Perspectives had a post of March 1, 2024 (“Michigan Consumer Sentiment Moves Sideways in February“) that displays the latest Conference Board Consumer Confidence and University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index charts.  They are presented below: (click on charts to enlarge images) – – While I don’t believe that confidence surveys should be overemphasized, I find …

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U.S. Dollar Decline – March 1, 2024 Update

U.S. Dollar weakness is a foremost concern of mine.  As such, I have extensively written about it, including commentary on the “A Substantial U.S. Dollar Decline And Consequences” page.  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, …

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Problems Within The U.S. Economic Situation – March 1, 2024

Perhaps the main reason that I write of our economic situation is that I continue to believe, based upon various analyses, that our economic situation is in many ways misunderstood.  While no one likes to contemplate a future rife with economic adversity, current and future economic problems must be properly recognized and rectified if high-quality, …

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Fannie Mae Home Price Expectations Survey (HPES) Q1 2024

On February 29, 2024, the Fannie Mae Q1 2024 Home Price Expectations Survey (HPES) results were released.  This survey is done on a quarterly basis. Various Q1 2024 Fannie Mae Home Price Expectations Survey information is available, including the chart seen below: As one can see from the above chart, the average expectation is that the residential real estate market, …

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