Producer Prices Mixed
The monthly producer price report showed a sharp increase — 1/2 percent for the month — in total finished goods. That’s the bad news. The good news is that energy price hikes didn’t really bleed …
Homebuying for Investment (Speculation?)
The National Association of Realtors reports that last year, 27.7 percent of all home sales were for investment purposes, while another 12.2 percent were vacation homes. Read the NAR press release.This is consistent with my …
Industry Chugging Forward
Industrial production moved forward at a very nice pace last month. Although the overall figure gets the headline, I prefer to look at manufacturing production. The total number also includes utilities and mining, and weather …
Retail Sales Strong
March was a good month for retail sales. Although car sales helped a lot, most other retail sectors moved forward as well. The weak sectors were electronics retailers and gas stations, the latter because prices …
Foreign Trade Declined
Most headlines are reading "Foreign Trade DEFICIT Declined," but I’m not very interested in the trade deficit. It’s hard to see that it’s affecting us much. After all, the most widely expected result of the …
Consumers Not Borrowing More
Consumers have leveled off their credit: This series does not include real estate loans; it counts credit cards, car loans, etc. It appears that consumers are trying to limit their debt (good idea), helped perhaps …
Solid Job Growth
The economy continued to grow total employment last month. The growth rate of employment is 1.6 percent over the last 12 months. Our population growth is running about 0.9 percent, so we are putting a …
Investment Returns in First Quarter
The Capital Spectator has a neat chart on first quarter investment returns. View it here. Although the stock market has looked anemic to my eye, small caps, emerging market and developed country stocks really did …
Car Sales Flat
Car sales are stable. Ho hum. I expect car sales to sag a bit in 2006, due to rising interest rates. Surprisingly, though, the low rates of the last few years have not really stimulated …
Manufacturing Looking OK
Manufacturing activity expanded last month. The ISM index (formerly called Purchasing Managers Index) shows expansion any time it’s above 50: We’re not booming as we had been back in 2003, in the sharpest period of …
Personal Income Growth Stable
This is going to take some explaining, but personal income growth is running stable at about 5 1/2 percent annual growth. That upward spike in December 2004 was the Microsoft dividend. The second downward spike, …
Bernanke Raises Interest Rates
In its first meeting with Ben Bernanke as chair, the Fed raised short-term interest rates a quarter point. So Ben is willing to raise rates. No surprise there. And the Fed sees strength in current …