After an initial “good news is bad news” kneejerk lower in stocks, USD strength (and thus JPY weakness) is providing the ammo to ‘prove’ this is good news, but problematically the bounce is fading (of course, there’s a long way and a lot more VIX to sell to manage this narrative green). Oil is up modestly (growth?). Treasury…
It’s interesting to note that the Russians have several new nuclear plants under construction, including a fast breeder, despite their enormous fossil fuel resources. What do they know that we don’t know? – Jack Ellis Probably nothing at all Jack, although admittedly it is useful to consider the difference between knowing…
The strength of the US employment report is seeing the dollar jump across the board. The divergent theme has been brought out in relief. The 321k rise in non-farm payrolls is the strongest print of the year and is the second monthly increase above 300k since early 2012 (the other one being this past April). On…
While the world has been watching Draghi and are surprised at the dissent, at the same time the street tends to try to create hard fast rules to follow the Fed rather than the markets and economy. The thinking process seems to try to fashion fixed rules to approach the Taylor Rule. This is kind…
The economy added 321,000 jobs in November—a dramatic jump from October. Overall the economy is creating many more jobs, but the outlook remains guarded. Unemployment stayed constant at 5.8 percent because the jobs count is based on the survey of employers, whereas unemployment is based on a direct household survey. The latter indicated many fewer…
More than three years ago, a jury found Bernard von Nothaus guilty for “making, possessing and selling his own coins,” which Nothaus had dubbed the Liberty Dollar. This week, a judge has passed a very lenient sentence on Nothaus despite pleas for a long prison term from the prosecution. More importantly, the judge ruled that…
The growth in US retail spending has eased lately, with the year-over-year pace dipping to 4.1% through October – the slowest rise since July. Is that a sign that consumption on Main Street will end the year on a disappointing note? Not necessarily, according to the latest run of reports from the front lines of the retail…
Let’s celebrate mediocrity! It’s Non-Farm Payroll day and we’re expecting to see the obligatory 250,000 jobs added to the labor force, which seems nice – until you realize that’s only 3M per year in a population that grew 3M last year and we are STILL missing, 6 years after the collapse, 5% of the Jobs…
OVERNIGHT MARKETS AND NEWS December E-mini S&Ps (ESZ14 +0.10%) this morning are up +0.08% ahead of U.S. Nov payrolls data and European stocks are up +1.63% after German Oct factory orders exceeded expectations. Stocks also rose and European government bonds rallied, with Italy’s 10-year bond yield falling to a record low 1.948%, on speculation the ECB…
In an attempt to try to divert a looming economic stagnation in the European Union, some leading German and French economists have launched some plans to try to revive the economy of the Eurozone by tackling two issues which might have deteriorated the economic situation in the currency bloc. Source Enderlein, an associate at a…
