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Weekly Economic Review
It was a light week for economic data but the news was generally positive once again. Week after week, month after month the economic data has continued to surprise the naysayers. I still have serious...
View ArticleWeekly Economic and Market Review
As I said last week, get ready for some volatility. Stocks most everywhere fell last week but it wasn’t a one way ride. Down Monday, up Tuesday, flat Wednesday, smacked around Thursday and an end of...
View ArticleWeekly Economic and Market Review
Volatility made a comeback last week as traders alternately bought and sold based on the latest utterances of various government officials. First it was Bernanke’s semi-annual report to Congress where...
View ArticleRetail Sales Are Up As Consumer Confidence Is Down; Which Is Correct?
By John L. Chapman, Ph.D. Washington, D.C. The Founder, Chief Investment Officer,...
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Consumer Sentiment Up This Month, but Caution Is Warranted
By John L. Chapman, Ph.D. Washington, D.C....
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Alhambra Research Note: A Weakening Economy Portends a Challenging 2013
By John L. Chapman, Ph.D. Canton, Ohio For many months now, Alhambra Partners Founder and 20+ year investment professional Joe Calhoun has labeled the current investing climate a “secular...
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Possessing the Economic Landscape
To go alongside the “unexpected” turn in payrolls Friday, the National Retail Federation issued a statement that highlighted a somewhat contradictory assessment of the US economic picture. They had an...
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Consumers Further in the Bunker
Consumer credit is somewhat useful as a gauge for actual consumer behavior in actual activity, as opposed to consumer sentiment surveys which tend to follow stock prices (and be dominated by the upper...
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Where Sentiment And Spending Parted
If there were an economic recovery in the US then we would certainly find it on the fiscal budgets of the various states. You cannot spend or even generate income anymore without taking incidence of a...
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Bi-Weekly Economic Review
Economic Reports Scorecard The economic data released since my last update has been fairly positive but future growth and inflation expectations, as measured by our market indicators, have waned...
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Inflation Is Oil, But Inflation Is Much More Than Consumer Prices
The average annual change in the WTI benchmark price was in April about 25%. That was still a sizable increase year-over-year, and just marginally less than March’s average of 33%. For calculated...
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Not A Cycle; Weakness Produces Further Weakness No Matter How Confident
If economists are hoping for more than signs of wage acceleration, revisions to the Personal Income data series are going to make it that much harder to justify still seeing them. Income was revised...
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Expectations and Acceptance of Potential
The University of Michigan reports that consumer confidence in September slipped a little from August. Their Index of Consumer Sentiment registered 95.3 in the latest month, down from 96.8 in the prior...
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Bi-Weekly Economic Review: Markets At Extremes
Economic Reports Production Production ended the year on a strong note but early readings from January are not as positive. The December industrial production report headline was strong at a 0.9% gain...
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Bi-Weekly Economic Review: One Down, Three To Go
Economic Reports Economic Growth & Investment We pay particular attention to broad based indicators of growth. The Chicago Fed National Activity Index and the Conference Board’s Leading Economic...
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Bi-Weekly Economic Review: Growth Expectations Break Out?
There are a lot of reasons why interest rates may have risen recently. The federal government is expected to post a larger deficit this year – and in future years – due to the tax cuts. Further...
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Bi-Weekly Economic Review: Examining Rates
Is the rate hiking cycle almost done? Not the question on everyone’s minds right now so a good time to ask it, I think. A couple of items caught my attention recently that made me at least think about...
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Where Sentiment And Spending Parted
If there were an economic recovery in the US then we would certainly find it on the fiscal budgets of the various states. You cannot spend or even generate income anymore without taking incidence of a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bi-Weekly Economic Review
Economic Reports Scorecard The economic data released since my last update has been fairly positive but future growth and inflation expectations, as measured by our market indicators, have waned...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Inflation Is Oil, But Inflation Is Much More Than Consumer Prices
The average annual change in the WTI benchmark price was in April about 25%. That was still a sizable increase year-over-year, and just marginally less than March’s average of 33%. For calculated...
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