States with the Most Student Debt
The average senior graduating college in 2011 owed $26,600 in student debt, up 5% from the year before. According to a new report, published by higher education nonprofit The Institute for College Access &…
Economy
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Newest first · Page 344Philly Fed and Leading Indicators Offer Upside
We have two separate reports showing mixed signals on the economic growth front. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia released its October Business Outlook Survey. This is the “Philly Fed,” according to Wall St.…
As Student Debt Jumps Again, a Problem Without Answers
The problem is plain enough. Student debt continues to rise year after year. Many students with the debt will never repay it. Some set of organizations will be left with crippling losses. No one…
Greece: Strikes Undermine Austerity
From a moral point of view, it is difficult to say whether the efforts of Greek unions to shut down the nation’s economy are ethical. From an economic viewpoint, it is not. Massive walkouts slow…
Business Inventories Rise Again in August
ThinkstockBusiness inventories are on the rise. Today’s report from the Commerce Department showed that the month of August’s business inventories rose by 0.6% for the month. This was versus what was expected to be…
Empire Manufacturing and Retails Sales Show Mixed Report
Monday morning brought on two different economic reports, each with different aspects of the economy. The New York Fed released the Empire Manufacturing Index for October and the Commerce Department released the September retail…
S&P Chart Shows Bargain Buyers Back in the Game
Stocks are trying to stage a bounce after 4 days of steady declines. Maybe the VP-debate matters to some and maybe a stronger than expected Reuters/UofM sentiment report for October are helping the trading action.…
September Producer Prices Dominated by Food and Energy
The report on wholesale inflation for the month of September is out and running a bit. The U.S. Labor Department said that the Producer Price Index (PPI) rose by 1.1% on the headline reading,…
Three Possibilties for the Economy
On Wall St., the managers of huge money manager BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) are often considered the smartest guys in the room. Their ability to successfully manage high returns are legendary. That gives some…
Wholesale Inventories on the Rise
Wholesale inventories rose yet again. Today’s reading from the Commerce Department showed a 0.5% gain in wholesale inventories to a seasonally adjusted $487.5 billion. While higher, this matched the Dow Jones consensus of a gain…
Foxconn and U.S. Labor History
Workers at a manufacturing facility of China’s Foxconn “struck” the company twice over the weekend, or once, or not at all, depending on the source of the information. Most likely, two labor disruptions occurred. The media gave…
August Factory Orders Hit Skid Row
U.S. Factory Orders fell by 5.2% in August. The report is down from a reading of a 2.8% gain originally reported in factory orders in July, but the Bloomberg consensus reading was looking for…
ISM Shows Higher Prices, Slower Employment Growth
The Institute for Supply Management, or the ISM, managed to show that the nonmanufacturing sector posted its 33rd consecutive month of growth. The ISM’s Report on Business showed a reading of 55.1% for the…
Credit Managers Stay Positive in September, But Slipping
The September report from The National Association of Credit Management is out with a positive headline and a positive bias at the start. The problem is that the gains have caveats and the report…
September Consumer Sentiment Holds Gains, but Lower Than Expected
The Reuters/University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment reading is out for September, but we would note that this is the final number for the month after the preliminary reading out two weeks ago. The final…