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…
ThinkstockOne more sign appeared that Europe is slowly recovering from its years-long recession, one that outlasted the one in the United States by nearly three years. There already have been data on improved manufacturing, and…
ThinkstockThe quarter-over-quarter rise in U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) was 2.5% in the second quarter of 2013, according to data released Thursday morning by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The increase is more than…
ThinkstockLabor Day is a holiday meant to honor the working man and the working woman. Its roots are more than 100 years old now. The question that comes to mind in today’s age of…
ThinkstockBuried a bit in the S&P/Case-Shiller report for June was the huge lag in Detroit home prices compared with those in the other 19 cities the research measures. Detroit’s home prices mirror the city’s…
ThinkstockThe market has to be getting more than just confused about what the hell is happening to consumer confidence and consumer sentiment. The Conference Board released its reading on consumer confidence for the month of…
ThinkstockIt’s back! It is time for yet another round of political infighting over the lovely state of our nation’s finances. Monday was bloodied by undertones of war or military intervention in Syria, but the…
ThinkstockGermans, buoyed by an improving economy in Europe, and likely a modest recovery of the U.S. economy, have become spectacularly confident about business prospects. According to official statistics bureau Ifo: The Ifo Business Climate…
Courtesy EADS/AirbusThe report on durable goods each month is one of the most volatile of all economic reports. After all, the big-ticket items include consumer durable goods and capital spending efforts. Durable goods for…
ThinkstockIMF Chief Christine Lagarde has long been a proponent of government and central bank intervention. It could be argued, but not without dissent, that the philosophy worked during the recession. However, since the recovery…
ThinkstockThe Conference Board has released its index of leading economic indicators (LEI). While the name sounds like much a of a preview, it is a July number and we would caution that many of…
ThinkstockThe elements that were needed to show that Europe’s economy has started to recover, and that China’s has not slowed as much as was thought during the past few months, showed up in new…
The Federal Reserve has released the official minutes from the July 31 FOMC meeting. As many have expected, the minutes are showing that the Fed members are more or less ready to begin tapering…
ThinkstockWhen just about all the new conventional mortgage-backed securities that can be created and sold are being purchased by the Federal Reserve, it should be no surprise at all that the primary securitization outlet…