from the St Louis Fed Gaps in income and wealth are growing between families headed by someone with a four-year college degree and families without a degree. The latest essay in the Demographics of Wealth series, produced by the St. Louis Fed’s Center for Household Financial Stability, examined this trend in-depth. In the essay “The Financial…
Warren Buffett is of course as the golden-touch investor who is chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Each year he writes a letter to his shareholders, and along with an update on just what the firm did the previous year, he often discusses some broader point. In the last couple of years, Buffett’s annual letter…
We argue that China, like many other countries, is developing a three-prong strategy for dealing with the Trump Administration. First, push back against tariffs, retaliating selectively. Second, challenge the US actions at the WTO. Third, some US demands that are perfectly consistent with President Xi’s agenda for China. In March, China launched a yuan-denominated oil futures…
The Department of Labor has monthly data on employment by industry categories reaching back to 1939. At the highest level, all jobs are categorized in either Service-Providing Industries or Goods Producing Industries. The adjacent chart illustrates the ratio of the two since 1939. The latest monthly employment report showed a gain of 164K nonfarm payrolls,…
Big tobacco stocks have had a bad month. Philip Morris had its worst day (for stock performance) in a decade. Electronic cigarettes and vapes etc are taking market share – and they are interrupting the big (old) brands of combustibles. There has been plenty of press – here is an example from Fortune. I just want…
Sempra Energy (SRE – Free Report), an energy services holding company, engages in the sale, distribution, storage, and transportation of electricity and natural gas. Sempra Energy’s stable cash-generating capacity, several development projects, steady focus on expansion of renewable capacity and strategic acquisitions is expected to boost its future performance. Estimate Trend & Surprise History Investors should note…
Designated Roth Accounts or Roth 401k are simply 401k plans that allow employees to designate all or part of their elective deferrals as qualified Roth 401k contributions. Qualified Roth 401k contributions are made on an after-tax basis, just like Roth IRA contributions. This means that employee contributions and earnings are entirely free from federal income…
The hot topic in monetary economics today (hah, if it’s not an oxymoron to say these terms together!) is whither interest rates. The Fed in its recent statement said the risk is balanced (the debunked notion of a tradeoff between unemployment and rising consumer prices should have been tossed on the ash heap of history…
The good news is: The secondaries outperformed the blue chips last week. The Negatives Last week flatlined. There was little movement in prices or the breadth indicators. The first chart covers the past 6 months showing the Nasdaq composite (OTC) in blue and a 10% trend (19 day EMA) of Nasdaq new highs (OTC NH)…
The above chart looks at Commodity ETF DBC on a weekly basis over the past 8-years. DBC remains in a downtrend creating lower highs and lower lows inside of channel (1) since 2009. It hit support of the channel back in 2016 and has been creating a series of higher lows ever since, inside of channel (1). Over…
