ThinkstockWhile inflation has been relatively tame in the United States and Europe, several large nations have struggled with rising prices. Sadly, most instances are simply stagflation, where prices are rising but the economic growth…
ThinkstockIn a tracking survey that estimates the percentage of the U.S. population employed at least 30 hours a week, Gallup reports that the Payroll to Population (P2P) employment rate fell from 44.6% in July…
Ed Brown, via Wikimedia CommonsFriday’s report from the U.S. Department of Labor likely either will shock or enthrall the stock and bond market. After all, we have a tentative Syrian military strike to contend…
courtesy U.S. Federal ReserveAnother month has started, and another report from the Federal Reserve is out to give investors new reason to cheer or shudder from much of the same observations that have been…
The World Economic Forum just issued the current Global Competitiveness Report (2013-2014). The study is one of the most dense and complex assessments of national economies. It also pretends to rate nations on which…
Ed Brown, via Wikimedia CommonsThis may be right after Labor Day, but the economic reports will be flowing heavily this week and peaking with the U.S. Labor Department report on the employment situation on…
ThinkstockThe Institute for Supply Management (ISM) has reported that manufacturing expanded in August with a reading of 55.7%. This is up by 0.3 percentage points when compared to July’s reading of 55.4%, and it…
ThinkstockThe Markit U.S. Manufacturing PMI has released its final data for the month of August, showing a drop as output growth slowed to 10-month low. The report came in at 53.1, versus 53.7 in…
ThinkstockThe Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released its “Interim Economic Assessment” for 2013. The agency expects modest growth in global gross domestic product (GDP), a point of view held by many economists.…
ThinkstockOne of the most important shipping lanes in the world may be in jeopardy. According to Bloomberg: Egyptian authorities moved to bolster security along the Suez Canal after a foiled attack on a ship traversing…
ThinkstockIt would make sense that China’s economy might make some modest recovery because it has been such a powerful GDP engine for so long. Not so Europe, where the recession has lingered for a…
thinkstockThe United Kingdom has decided to refrain from an attack on Syria, although the United States may go it alone (or perhaps with France.) Obama has agreed to pass the decision to Congress which…
ThinkstockThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its preliminary report on August farm prices on Friday afternoon. The August all-products price index dropped by 12 points (6%) to 188 month-over-month, with the crop index…
ThinkstockAfter an unexpected jump to a six-year high 85.1 in July, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell back to earth on Friday. The final index reading for August came in at…
ThinkstockIn its report on personal income and spending for July, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data shows that personal income in current dollars grew by 0.1% month-over-month, as did personal spending (called personal…