Today was a surprisingly sleepy trading day. The weather was pushing 80 degrees here. Perhaps people were lured away from their offices to enjoy the outdoors. I know that I was. All of the tensions that have been causing markets to gyrate are still there, if but forgotten for a day. Let’s see what the…
There is a significant labor shortage in our country today primarily due to the retiring baby boom generation and compounded by Teens choosing to stay in school longer than ever. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that matching every unemployed person in the Midwest to a job would still leave 180,000 unfilled jobs. In spite of record demand for…
After selling off aggressively in the front of the week, USD/CAD rebounded as it became clear that no deal will be made at the NAFTA summit in Peru. According to President Trump, a deal is close and the U.S. concession on regional auto content puts them one step closer to an agreement. Mexico thinks a…
Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg endured five hours of questions in the US Senate on Tuesday, at one point conceding what’s probably inevitable: tighter government oversight of social media in general and his firm in particular. “My position is not that there should be no regulation,” he said, trying to get in front of what appears…
What happens if you mix government and the digital revolution? The answer is Chapter 2 of the April 2018 IMF publication Fiscal Monitor, called “Digital Government.” The report offers some striking insights about access to digital technology in the global economy and how government may use this technology. Access to digital services is rising fast in developing countries,…
A “Typical” Correction? A Narrative Fail May Be in Store Obviously, assorted crash analogs have by now gone out of the window – we already noted that the market was late if it was to continue to mimic them, as the decline would have had to accelerate in the last week of March to remain…
Bitcoin ripped higher by 14% on Thursday, rising near the $8,000 level before pulling back to the $7,600 level. Mainstream outlets are pointing to the end of tax season – during which time some crypto holders had to sell their crypto in order to pay capital gains taxes to the IRS – as a possible catalyst, and that…
The so-called FANG stocks, which have powered the U.S. stock market rally in the ongoing Trump era, lost their sheen last month amid the worst tech rout. Notably, the NYSE FANG index, which tracks the 10 biggest and most-active tech stocks in the world, slipped into deep correction territory (down more than 10% from its…
ECRI’s WLI Growth Index which forecasts economic growth six months forward remains in expansion. Analyst Opinion of the trends of the weekly leading indices Even with the continuing decline in this index, the forecast is for modest growth six months from today. Here is this week’s update on ECRI’s Weekly Leading Index (note – a…
You can only push countries so far before they decide to push back. Russia may do just that. Please consider Russia Threatens to Cut Off Crucial Titanium Exports to Boeing. Russian lawmakers have submitted a wide-ranging bill that could freeze crucial exports to the United States. The bill, which was drafted by leading lawmakers at the…
