Durable Goods New Orders – Long-Term Charts Through August 2012

Many people place emphasis on Durable Goods New Orders as a prominent economic indicator and/or leading economic indicator. For reference, here are a few charts depicting this measure. First, from the St. Louis Fed site (FRED), a chart through August, last updated on September 27.  This value is 198,494 ($ Millions) : (click on charts …

Read more

Updates On Economic Indicators September 2012

Here is an update on various indicators that are supposed to predict and/or depict economic activity.  These indicators have been discussed in previous blog posts: The September Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI)(pdf) updated as of September 24, 2012: – The ECRI WLI (Weekly Leading Index): As of 9/21/12 (incorporating data through 9/14/12) the WLI was at …

Read more

St. Louis Financial Stress Index – September 20, 2012 Update

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 20, incorporating data from December 31,1993 to September 14, …

Read more

St. Louis Financial Stress Index – September 13, 2012 Update

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 13, incorporating data from December 31,1993 to September 7, …

Read more

St. Louis Financial Stress Index – September 6, 2012 Update

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 6, incorporating data from December 31,1993 to August 31, …

Read more

Comments Concerning GDP Revisions

GDP is an economic measure that I rarely mention in this blog, as I believe that, for a variety of reasons, it is a complex indicator that has various computational, structural and theoretical limitations, and as such should be used with caution.  However, given its prominence (or perhaps dominance) in policy making and near-ubiquity in …

Read more

St. Louis Financial Stress Index – August 30, 2012 Update

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 August 30, incorporating data from December 31,1993 to August 24, …

Read more

St. Louis Financial Stress Index – August 23, 2012 Update

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 August 23, incorporating data from December 31,1993 to August 17, …

Read more

Updates On Economic Indicators August 2012

Here is an update on various indicators that are supposed to predict and/or depict economic activity.  These indicators have been discussed in previous blog posts: The August Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI)(pdf) updated as of August 20, 2012: – The USA TODAY/IHS Global Insight Economic Outlook Index: An excerpt from the July 19 update titled “Index …

Read more