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Bi-Weekly Economic Review: Ignore The Idiot

By |2019-10-23T15:09:51-04:00August 14th, 2017|Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Stocks|

Of the economic releases of the past two weeks the one that got the most attention was the employment report. That report is seen by many market analysts as one of the most important and of course the Fed puts a lot of emphasis on it so the press spends an inordinate amount of time dissecting it. I don't waste [...]

Bi-Weekly Economic Review: Attention Shoppers

By |2019-10-23T15:09:53-04:00July 16th, 2017|Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Markets|

The majority of the economic reports over the last two weeks have been disappointing, less than the consensus expectations. The minor rebound in activity we've been tracking since last summer appears to have stalled. Retail sales continue to disappoint and inventory/sales ratios are once again rising - from already elevated levels. Even the positive reports were clouded by negative undertones. [...]

Bi-Weekly Economic Review: The Return of Economic Ennui

By |2017-06-07T16:00:52-04:00June 6th, 2017|Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Markets, Stocks|

The economic reports released since the last of these updates was generally not all that bad but the reports considered more important were disappointing. And it should be noted that economic reports lately have generally been worse than expected which, if you believe the market to be fairly efficient, is what really matters. The disappointing employment report and the generally [...]

Bi-Weekly Economic Review

By |2017-02-15T15:53:29-05:00February 15th, 2017|Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Markets, Stocks|

Economic Reports Scorecard The economic data since my last update has improved somewhat. It isn't across the board and it isn't huge but it must be acknowledged. As usual though there are positives and negatives, just with a slight emphasis on positive right now. Interestingly, the bond market has not responded to these slightly more positive readings with nominal and [...]

The Last Ride Of The Unemployment Rate

By |2016-11-28T16:05:17-05:00November 28th, 2016|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

It’s easy to set aside the nostalgia, so to speak, since this is likely the last Christmas holiday season to be talked about in the media in the positively glowing terms of the unemployment rate. Ever since the “recovery” began, each and every year the internet and TV channels are filled with stories about how strong the consumer is and [...]

The Conspicuous Temperature Gradient of Finicky US Consumers

By |2015-11-11T10:30:23-05:00November 11th, 2015|Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Janet Yellen and orthodox economists claim that the economy can only be gaining, and that word is taken, on faith, as if some updated, modern gold standard for meaning. No matter the contrary in actual evidence and observation, the “word” remains as if diktat were the only employ. It has produced some very strange dichotomies, particularly of late, where those [...]

Durable And Capital Goods Still Contracting

By |2015-08-26T16:08:43-04:00August 26th, 2015|Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

At some point, these continuous divergences between seasonally-adjusted extrapolations and unadjusted year-over-year comparisons will cease to provide so much apparent relief. Time after time, the smallest jump in the monthly variation is taken as cause for completely discarding all prior economic worries even though the more measured and consistent unadjusted growth rates continue to press downward; especially since time and [...]

The ‘Dollar’s’ Grand Masterpiece Almost In Full View

By |2015-07-15T11:49:08-04:00July 15th, 2015|Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

When US retail sales jumped in May on seasonal adjustments alone, economists and mainstream commentary lost all composure as they were certain that meant the “slump” was over and the dominant narrative would continue. The same occurred in Europe over a slight pickup in overall lending, not even in the household or business sectors, which was proclaimed as nothing but [...]

Disinflation Is Not Cash

By |2015-03-30T16:23:14-04:00March 30th, 2015|Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Personal spending had fallen, seasonally-adjusted, for two consecutive months placing warning upon the household sector. The just-released estimates for January show only the smallest of rebounds, just +0.1%, in February suggesting that nothing yet has been resolved in either direction. Unlike last year, there is no surge that would indicate a temporary straying from the otherwise only tepid path. This [...]

2014’s ‘Robust’ Jobs Market Produced No Wages, And Now No Spending

By |2015-01-14T17:51:33-05:00January 14th, 2015|Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

For all the hype about jobs and the booming (GDP) economy, the major portion of the retailer calendar around Christmas was a total bust. In many ways it was worse than last year, which emphasizes simply how the business “cycle” as it was understood in textbook economics no longer applies. The US economy, indeed the global economy as there are [...]

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