The Economist – Greater expectations? Inflation is rising, but worries are overstated WHEREVER you are reading this article, inflation is probably in the news. Soaring commodity prices are pushing up consumer prices across the globe. The pressure is clearest in fast-growing emerging markets, where people spend a big slice of their incomes on food. China’s… Continue reading Inflation Fears
USA Today – How long will bull market last? Look at history Stocks have nearly doubled since the March 2009 bear market low, raising an all-too-familiar question: Is it too late to buy stocks and profit from the rally? To provide a road map for individual investors, including those who have played it safe by… Continue reading How Long Will The Bull Market Last?
<Click on chart for larger image> Barron’s – Yield Curve Is No Cause for Joy The traditional indicator of a strengthening economy seems to have lost its predictive power for the moment. Treasuries’ yield curve, the gap between their short- and long-term rates, has steepened to near-record levels and is likely to widen even more… Continue reading The Yield Curve
The New York Times – Floyd Norris: The Inexact Science of the Jobless Numbers THE American economy added 36,000 jobs last month. That is what the government said Friday. Of course, it also said the unemployment rate plunged to 9.0 percent. It is hard to put those two observations together and think they refer to… Continue reading Employment
Slate.com – The Great Panic of 2015 Has Washington, or the rest of the world, learned anything from the Great Recession? The Great Recession officially started in December 2007, according to the bean-counters at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Most people on Wall Street or in Washington, however, would probably name Sept. 15, 2008,… Continue reading The Panic of 2015
<Click on chart for larger image> Reuters – Copper Shoots Above $10,000 on US Data Copper shot decisively through the $10,000 a tonne barrier on Friday after data from the United States showed America’s jobless rate tumbled and employment in the manufacturing sector surged. The industrial metal — widely used in the power and construction… Continue reading Copper
The New York Times – A Crisis of Faith in Britain’s Central Banker A central banker need not be loved, but at the least he should command respect — and in Britain these days Mervyn King cannot count on either. Mr. King, the donnish governor of the Bank of England, has been accused of presiding… Continue reading Mervyn King Gets No Respect
None Today
<Click on chart for larger image> Reuters – World Bank chief urges action on rising food prices The world faces a broader trend of increasing food and commodity prices and more countries should wake up to the need to curb price volatility, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Wednesday. In a phone interview from… Continue reading Food Prices And The Federal Reserve
America’s unofficial holiday is this weekend, the Superbowl. What can this event tell us about the economy? The first chart below shows the cost of a 30-second commercial (domestic audience only) during the Superbowl. The blue bars show the actual cost, while the black line shows the cost on an inflation-adjusted basis. In red are… Continue reading The Superbowl As An Economic Indicator
Bloomberg.com – Egyptians Mass After Friday Prayer to Force Out Mubarak Egyptians poured out of Friday prayer services and into Cairo’s Tahrir Square in their tens of thousands as last night’s fighting gave way to a peaceful mass protest on what demonstrators called the “day of departure” for President Hosni Mubarak. The crowd sang the… Continue reading Egypt