Based on the figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, US unemployment was 5% in April. Those figures showed that 146.3 million Americans were employed in the civilian work-force and 7.6 million Americans were…
The Labor Department just released the April 2008 unemployment numbers. While these are negative, they aren’t as bad as estimates. The unemployment rate came in at 5.0% versus estimates we had marked as as…
The reading for Q1-2008 GDP is out, and it’s no real surprise that GDP managed to show a small gain of +0.6% on the advance and preliminary number. Bloomberg had noted a +0.5% Q1…
In what may be the last great act of his presidency, George Bush is sending many Americans tax rebates. The checks began going out this week. Some households may get as much as $1,200.…
Former World Bank chief James Wolfensohn thinks the credit crisis will take $1 trillion in losses out of the market. That is a number much higher than most estimates. It also means that the…
Sovereign wealth funds are now so large that they have passed the annual economic output of the United Kingdom, Germany or France. According to Global Insight, the value of the funds could pass US…
Inflation in Europe rose 3.6% in March, the highest rate in 16 years. In China, inflation moved up 8.1%. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Communist government’s target was 4.8%. Pretty big miss.…
According to Bloomberg "U.S. foreclosure filings jumped 57 percent and bank repossessions more than doubled in March from a year earlier as adjustable mortgages increased and more owners gave up their homes to lenders."…
Import prices surged in March and some of the price jumps are a record for modern trading history. Even the Labor Department’s reputation for under-reporting inflation statistics can’t mask the high inflation. Oil is…
The report from Business Roundtable’s first quarter "2008 CEO Economic Outlook Survey" has been released today. This was completed between March 10th and March 27th by 100 of the Roundtable’s 160 member CEOs. We…
There is plenty of cash available to be invested in the markets and financial institutions. It is simply too frightened to come out and play. According to Reuters "A steady move into cash is…
The World Bank says that food prices will stay above 2004 levels until 2015. Over the next two years they will rise from current levels. Wheat prices have almost tripled in a year. The…
It is spring on Wall St. With the warmer weather comes hope that the big financial crisis which seems to have engulfed everything in the world over the last three quarters is losing its…
The International Monetary Fund came late to the mortgage crisis, but they bought the worse news. The IMF said that "Total losses, including the securities tied to commercial real estate and loans to consumers…
Today’s March 18 minutes from the FOMC meeting, which already gave us a rate cut and comments about a weak economy, included comments that fed governors were more worried than they led on. The…