ThinkstockThe Reuters/University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment report for May is out. It offers a revised number from the preliminary report two weeks ago, and revisions rarely move the market as much as preliminary reports.…
ThinkstockThe May report from the Chicago purchasing managers is out, and it is off the charts on a better-than-expected report. While April’s report was down at 49.0 and while Bloomberg had consensus at only…
ThinkstockIn 2011, for the first time in decades, the amount the nation’s schools spent per student fell. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest release on education spending, the nation’s schools spent $10,560 per…
Ed Brown, via Wikimedia CommonsInvestors have two economic reports to chew over so far on Thursday morning. The Commerce Department issued a revision to first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figure. We also got to…
ThinkstockNew manufacturing data is out from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and it shows weak manufacturing trends. The Chicago Fed Midwest Manufacturing Index fell by 0.5% in the month of April to a…
ThinkstockThe number of poor people in U.S. suburbs rose by 63.6% between 2000 and 2011, from 10 million to well over 16 million people. For the first time, there are now more people living…
ThinkstockThe durable goods report for April is turning out to look incredibly durable at 3.3% for the month. Bloomberg had the consensus estimate of 1.1% and Dow Jones had the consensus at 1.3%. Even…
ThinkstockThe New York Federal Reserve branch’s Liberty Street Economics latest blog posting indicates that the New York Fed staff is targeting stronger growth and perhaps better prices ahead. The change may not be much…
ThinkstockThe Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City is headed by President Esther George, and she is the current policy hawk of 2013, after Richmond’s Jeff Lacker had been the big hawk in 2012. George…
ThinkstockDidn’t Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony on Wednesday morning intend to calm fears that the bond buying was going to come to a quick end, or even a quick tapering off of activity? Apparently…
ThinkstockThe Chicago Federal Reserve has released its National Activity Index for the month of April. Unfortunately, the move was in the wrong direction. April saw the drop down to -0.53 from an already negative…
ThinkstockIf innovation and inventiveness are the qualities which drive America to become the largest economy in the world, perhaps the same qualities will put the U.S. out of its multiyear decline, one in which…
ThinkstockMore economic data is out for the markets to chew on. The good news is that inflation appears to be remaining nonexistent. The bad news is that manufacturing in the New York area is…
ThinkstockImport and export prices were tame in the month of April. The Labor Department’s reading of import and export prices showed that import prices rose by 0.5%, right in line with the Dow Jones…
ThinkstockThe U.S. Treasury reported today that the U.S. government posted a surplus of $112.9 billion in the month of April. The consensus estimate had called for a surplus of $107.5 billion. In April 2012…