A BLS report shows widespread declines in manufacturing and mining productivity. A BLS report on Productivity and Costs by Industry shows widespread productivity declines in 2017 for manufacturing and mining industries. Productivity Synopsis Labor productivity declines were widespread among manufacturing industries in 2017, with decreases in 54 of the 86 four-digit NAICS industries. Of the 51 industries…
Options expiration was always an exciting day for me when I was in the trading pits of Chicago. Expiration days can see wild price action and huge levels of orderflow as traders look to close out their expiring positions and roll them to the next options expiration. While this can create opportunity for savvy options…
When Morgan Stanley’s chief equity strategist Michael Wilson released his 2018 equity outlook earlier this year, one particular observation struck us: a curious correlation between volatility and the shape of the yield curve we had not seen anywhere previously. In his discussion in late November 2017, Wilson explains why he expected bigger volatility in the coming year,…
The outlook for the pound, while still bullish, is looking less optimistic today. More specifically, factors including the ongoing slowdown in regional growth, lower expectations for a May rate hike, and significant speculator interest in the currency are hampering the rally. Following Brexit, the trade-weighted value of pound sterling (a measure of GBP relative to…
More is revealed with each passing day. You can count on it. But what exactly the ‘more is of’ requires careful discrimination. Is the ‘more’ merely more noise? Or is it something of actual substance? Today we endeavor to pass judgement, on your behalf. For example, here in the land of fruits and nuts, things…
This morning’s release of the publicly available data from ECRI puts its Weekly Leading Index (WLI) at 148.9, up 1.1 from the previous week. Year-over-year the four-week moving average of the indicator is now at 2.71%, up from 2.70% last week. The WLI Growth indicator is now at 3.2, down from the previous week. “Up…
We must resist short-term focus and pressure to borrow more debt and waste more cash developing antiquated energy sources, and instead double down on developing longer-term prosperity and health with our vast sustainable resources. See Forget Trans Mountain, here’s the sustainable way forward for Canada’s energy sector: As of 2015, two-thirds of Canada’s power generation was…
As you know, I don’t trade cryptos, but I find the charts of the big ones fascinating. Having risen about 30% since its last recent low, Bitcoin is at a bit of a “moment of truth”, since it is up against a key trendline, anchored to its nearly $20,000 high.
Inflationary fears are growing and US rates continue to rise Employment has become more flexible since the crisis of 2008/2009 Commodity prices have risen but from multi-year lows During the next recession job losses will rapidly temper inflationary pressures Given the official policy response to the Great Financial Recession – a mixture of central bank…
As we have showed repeatedly over the past month, the European economic imploding, and nowhere is this more obvious than the Citi Eurozone Economic Surprise Index why will soon hit its post financial crisis lows. It appears that after weeks of dithering, someone at the ECB also figured out how to pull up this chart…
