Dallas Fed Report Posts Big Disappointment
The Dallas Federal Reserve’s July Business Activity report came in with a huge disappointment this morning. The reading was all the way down at -13.2 for the month of July from 5.8 in June.…
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The Chicago Fed Midwest Manufacturing Index, referred to as the CFMMI, is not coming in negative like so many manufacturing reports we have been seeing of late. The index rose by about 1.1% in…
Eurozone Confidence Weakens in July
nationsonline.orgThe European Commission announced today that its July economic sentiment indicator for the 17-nation eurozone fell to 87.9 from 89.9 in June. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a reading of 88.9.…
University of Michigan Sentiment Shows Slight Uptick in Revision
The Reuters/University of Michigan Sentiment report for a revised end of July figure came in at 72.3. Dow Jones was calling for a report of 72.0, and Bloomberg also had the consensus pegged at…
Nine States Where Lenders Take Your Paycheck
Payday loans — small, short-term loans secured against a customer’s next paycheck — are highly controversial. A new study from Pew Charitable Trusts explains that opponents believe the practice “preys” on people who, because…
Kansas City Manufacturing Shows Surprising Gain
Apparently not all manufacturing regions are slowing to a crawl. A report from the Kansas City Federal Reserve showed in its regional manufacturing survey some improvement in July. The improvement was very sluggish but…
Aircraft Orders Offer Boost to Durable Goods
The report on durable goods came in above expectations for the month of June. The Commerce Department’s report showed a gain of 1.6% to a seasonally adjusted $221.63 billion for the long-lasting goods. Dow…
Richmond Fed Data Signals Ongoing Broader Weakness
The market is getting to digest some additional manufacturing data this morning, with the latest installment of economic weakness coming out of the Richmond Federal Reserve. The manufacturing index fell to -17 in July,…
PMI: Purchasing Managers Data Continues to Weaken
The Markit Economics’ PMI for the U.S. slowed again to 51.8 in July from 52.5 in June. The Bloomberg consensus target was 52.6 for July, although we question how the estimates could have been…
Eurozone PMI Still Weak
nationsonline.orgResearch firm Markit issued its PMI data for the eurozone for July. Most of the news was bad, although economists were heartened slightly by the fact that the core figure was no worse than in May. On…
Roubini: Add U.S. to List of Doomed Economies
Nouriel Roubini picked the website “Project Syndicate: A World of Ideas” as the forum for his latest pessimistic comments about economies around the world. In this new case, the United States was his target: Even this…
Bernanke’s Day-Two Comments… Watch Q&A
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is testifying in front of Congress again this Wednesday in a “Day-Two” of what was formerly known as the Humphrey-Hawkins Testimony. Bernanke’s prepared remarks today are, as they usually…
The Hopelessness of State Finances
A new report from the State Budget Crisis Task Force received nearly universal coverage by the media. One reason is that the task force was led by legends Paul Volcker and Richard Ravitch. Another reason…
Ben Bernanke Warns of Recession with the Coming Fiscal Cliff
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is testifying and the market is looking for (and hoping for) any signs of life for more easing measures. While Bernanke did not promise any additional quantitative easing measures immediately,…
Business Inventories and Sales Confirming Weak Q2 GDP Expectations
Business inventories for the month of May were up 0.3%, while inventory sales were 0.1% lower in May. The report from the Commerce Department does have a rather large lag — this is a…