Empire State Index Is Very Disappointing The general business activity reported in the April Empire State Index was ok as it fell from 22.5 to 15.8. This missed expectations for 18.2. This decline signals the manufacturing index is weakening from the rapid growth pace seen in Q1. The new orders index was even weaker as…
Ok, this was a hell of a week in many respects and that shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise because after all: Exactly. Thank you Mr. President. Here’s how things shaped up for U.S. equities which fell hard to close things out on Friday: Monday brought the Sean Hannity bombshell and all the jokes…
I was underweighted bank stocks heading into the 2016 presidential election and proceeded to watch as they soared immediately following. I didn’t jump on the bandwagon because although the reasoning was solid (less regulation, higher interest rates) the stocks seemed to get way ahead of the actual fundamentals (in terms of timing). Below is a…
It was a bit of a ‘risk off’ day today, as stocks were showing weakness from the open. AAPL was leading equities lower, based on reports of slowing orders from their supply chain. The 10 Year Treasury Yield climbed again today finishing up around 2.96. The US Dollar Index finished higher at 90.30. The stronger…
Back in the 1500s, a financial agent of Queen Elizabeth I named Thomas Gresham observed that that “bad money drives out good.” That is, if two kinds of money are circulating at the same legal value, people will spend the lower-quality money and save the higher. The latter as a result ceases to circulate. This…
After experiencing weakness in February and March, crude oil spiked to three-year highs in April due to geopolitical fears associated with the Syria bombing campaign as well as falling inventories. Earlier today, President Trump tweeted that OPEC was to blame for “artificially Very High!” crude oil prices, which he said are “No good and will not…
The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays. Yes, we all know that Google is dominant in the realm of search. But at the same time, the internet is also a huge place – and building a decent searching algorithm can’t be that hard, right? This week’s chart is a bit mind-boggling, because…
from the International Monetary Fund — this post authored by Francesco Grigoli, Zsoka Koczan, and Petia Topalova Population growth in advanced economies is slowing, life expectancy is rising, and the number of elderly people is soaring. Because older workers participate less in the labor market, the aging of the population could slow growth and, in many cases, threaten…
The Silver Market is setting up for one heck of a move higher as investors are waiting for the signal to start buying. While the silver price has shot up due recently, it still isn’t clear if this is the beginning of a longer-term uptrend. The reason for the quick spike in silver was likely…
