Big Picture, Economy, Sprout Money 2015 promises to become a tough year for Russia. It is almost certain that the country will have to deal with a recession and the question is whether the ruble will be able to catch a break throughout the year. The currency has crashed dramatically as we all know. 2014 was…
This is simply stunning. Regular readers will recall that last month, at the same time as the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported was a far better than expected 3.9% GDP (since revised to 5.0% on the back of the previously noted Obamacare spending surge), it also released its Personal Spending and Income numbers for…
Technology companies seem to have woken up to the fact that collaboration is an effective way to get more competitive. Two factors have driven this change in tactics. The first was the desire to avoid litigation that is basically a waste of time, money and effort. The second was the need to tap growth opportunities…
CLICK ON CHART TO ENLARGE Is it possible for short-term interest rates to double in a couple of months? Well they have! Going back to last week, Joe Friday shared that interest rates could rise sharply, as the 10-year yield was on support and rates have just experienced one of the sharpest 12 month rate…
Potash producers have 8 billion reasons why demand for the minerals that increase food production will grow in the coming decades. Plus, a sinkhole emerging under a Russian mine is raising questions about the ability to produce enough fertilizer to feed what is projected to be an even larger and more demanding global population. The…
The Final University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment for November came in at 93.6, a strong surge from last month’s final but slightly below the 93.8 of the preliminary report, which was a post-recession high and the highest level since January 2007, almost eight years ago. Today’s sentiment level came in above the Investing.com forecast of 93.1. See the…
Walgreen Co. (WAG – Analyst Report) reported adjusted net earnings of 81 cents per share in the first quarter of fiscal 2015, up 12.5% from the year-ago adjusted number. The adjusted figure also beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 74 cents by 9.5%. A year-over-year high-single-digit increase in the revenues primarily resulted in this bottom-line improvement. Walgreen Co…
I have been watching the junk bond (and leveraged loan) market very closely over the past few months mainly because risk appetites there have been closely tied to stock prices for a very long time. In fact, since the bull market was born in March of 2009 until this summer high-yield risk appetites (as measure by…
There is no doubt 2014 has been a great year for the consumer, but as the economy continues to strengthen, there has been a noticeable divergence in consumer dining trends. Casual dining restaurants such as Chipotle, Cheesecake Factory and Buffalo Wild Wings continue to steal market share from traditional fast food joints. One prominent example is…
The headlines say the durable goods new orders declined. Our analysis agrees – and everything seemed soft. Econintersect Analysis: unadjusted new orders growth decelerated 7.1% (after accelerating a revised 0.6% the previous month) month-over-month , and is down 1.4% year-over-year. the three month rolling average for unadjusted new orders decelerated 2.7% month-over-month, and up 3.2% year-over-year. Year-over-Year Change of 3 Month Rolling Average –…
