The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released its 2014 Article IV Consultation with the United States of America. The Article IV highlighted five themes that the IMF feels would strengthen the recovery in the…
courtesy of the Federal ReserveOver the past week, U.S. and global financial markets have gone from a period of complacency to being worried about an outright civil war and uprising in Iraq. But now…
By International Monetary Fund , via Wikimedia CommonsThe International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its GDP growth forecast for the U.S. economy from 2.8% to 2.0%. The IMF also forecast that the United States would…
ThinkstockIndustrial production rose by 0.6% in the United States in the month of May, while capacity utilization rose to 79.1%. These compare to a 0.3% drop in production and 78.6% capacity utilization in the…
ThinkstockSince the low-point of the Great Recession in March 2009, the total wealth of the world’s billionaires has more than doubled from $3.1 billion to $6.5 billion, more than the GDP of every country…
ThinkstockThe preliminary reading from the Reuters/University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment report is out at 81.2 for the first look at June. Bloomberg had a consensus estimate of 83.0. The current conditions reading was 95.4,…
ThinkstockThe Labor Department has released its Producer Price Index (PPI), a measurement of wholesale inflation. In Friday’s report, that should probably read deflation. Before you panic about deflation, just keep in mind that oil…
ThinkstockBusiness inventories rose by 0.6% in the month of April. While this report from the Department of Commerce is reported with a one month lag, inventories are an indication that businesses are stocking up…
ThinkstockAre we supposed to be worrying about inflationary pressures or deflationary pressure in the months ahead? That answer is one in which beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Import and export prices…
ThinkstockRetail sales in May rose by only 0.3% on the headline data, short of the Dow Jones target of 0.7% and short of the Bloomberg target of 0.6%. The number was put at $437.65…
The U.S. Labor Department is out with yet another weekly jobless claims report. Claims rose by 4,000 to 317,000 in the past week. Dow Jones was calling for 310,000, and Bloomberg was calling for…
ThinkstockNow the World Bank is blaming the weather. In its latest Global Economic Prospects report, the forecast calls for the global economy to expand by 2.8% in 2014, led by the high-income, developed world…
ThinkstockTuesday’s economic readings are not exactly market moving numbers because they both cover April data. This was the wholesale trade data and the Labor Department’s JOLTS report. Still, they both offer keen insight into…
ThinkstockThe National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Tuesday morning reported that its small business optimism index for May rose 1.4 points from 95.2 in April to come in at 96.6. The May reading is…
ThinkstockJames Bullard, President of St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, spoke on Monday in front of a group at the Tennessee Bankers Association Annual Meeting. The speech was titled “How Far Is the FOMC From…