Analysis Topic: Economic Trends Analysis
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
Europe Crisis from a European Perspective / Economics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: Alasdair_Macleod
Alasdair Macleod writes: The purpose of this report is to give readers the essential background to the economic problems in Europe and to bring you up-to-date in what has become a fast-moving situation. At the time of writing, there has been a lull in the news flow, but that does not mean the problems are under control. Far from it.
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
U.S. Consumers Still Key to Economic Outlook / Economics / US Economy
By: John_Mauldin
What I like most about Gary Shilling's economic analysis is that it's thorough.In the piece that follows – an excerpt from Gary's monthly INSIGHT – he ranges from the importance of US consumer spending and the unemployment rate, to the actions of the Fed, to business cost cutting and productivity, to the housing crisis and household debt, to state and local government fiscal issues, to US exports– Etc.! So by time he gets ready to deliver conclusions, you know they're well-supported. And Gary's overall conclusion here, regarding the rest of 2012, is a strong one and maybe not quite what you'd expect.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
U.S. Q1 2012 GDP Sends Mixed Message / Economics / US Economy
By: Tony_Pallotta
The US economy expanded 2.2% in Q1 2012 versus 3% in Q4 2011 based on the first of three GDP estimates. Forecasts were for 2.5% growth with "whisper" numbers in the 3% range. As always on the surface this appears OK although one can easily argue this far into a "recovery" the economy should be growing at a faster pace. In fact the economy is closer to "stall speed" versus "escape velocity."
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Spain At Economic Depression, Soaring Unemployment Rate to 23.6% / Economics / Great Depression II
By: Mike_Shedlock
Via email from Barclays Capital, Spain: Q1 unemployment rate rises; trend likely to continue into H1 2013.
This morning Spain released labour market statistics for Q1. Seasonally adjusted, the unemployment rate rose to 23.6% from 23.1% in Q4 last year (Figure 1). We think that the labour market's deterioration is likely to continue over the next 3-4 quarters. We look for unemployment to peak at nearly 26% in H1 2013, before slowly starting to decline.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, April 27, 2012
U.S. Economy Having Difficulty Gaining Traction According to PIMCO's El-Erian / Economics / US Economy
By: Bloomberg
Bloomberg TV's Betty Liu spoke with Mohamed El-Erian of PIMCO, who said that the Federal Reserve is likely to provide additional assistance if the economy weakens further, but there is "no immediate need" to do so.
El-Erian also said that the U.S economy needs to add 250,000 to 300,000 jobs every month if we are to "seriously start reducing unemployment to something that is acceptable," but that "the labor market is cooling off and doing so too early."
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, April 27, 2012
U.S. Initial Jobless Claims – Two Steps Forward, One Step Backward? / Economics / Unemployment
By: Asha_Bangalore
In the past few weeks, news from the labor market is pointing to less robust hiring than previously thought. Initial jobless claims slipped 1,000 and stand at 388,000 during the week ended April 21, the highest level since November 2011. The four-week moving average has risen to 381,750 from 363,000 during the week ended March 31. Continuing claims, which lag initial jobless claims by one week, increased 3,000 to 3.315 million and have risen 44,000 in the last two weeks.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
IMF World Economic Outlook / Economics / Global Economy
By: Ian_R_Campbell
Why Read: Because this commentary links to the International Monetary Fund’s 2012 World Economic Outlook. You ought to read the Executive Summary, even if you elect not to scan the entire document or listen to the 45 minute transcript of a related Press Briefing.
Featured Report: The International Monetary Fund has just released its 2012 World Economic Outlook, sub-titled ‘Growth Resuming, Dangers Remain’. At a high level, this IMF Outlook suggests:
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Global Economies Decoupling Myth Destroyed / Economics / Global Economy
By: Michael_Pento
would have thought that the decoupling myth between global economies would have been completely discredited after the events of this past credit crisis unfolded. Back in 2007 and early 2008, investors were very slowly coming to the realization that the U.S. centered real estate crisis was going to dramatically affect our domestic economy.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
The Pain in Spain, Debt Spiral and Housing Market Crash / Economics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: John_Mauldin
It really does seem to be All Spain All the Time, but there is a reason. Unlike Greece, Spain makes a difference to the eurozone. It may be both too big to allow to fail and too big to save. Last week I came across a very informative 50-page PowerPoint on the situation in Spain from Carmel Asset Management. It is too big to send, but I asked Jonathan Carmel to draft a smaller document with some of the key points. I find it compelling. You can access the entire PowerPoint on my website. If you are not registered with me, you will need to enter your email address and, if you would, your zip code or country. There is a lot if information and data in the report. It will certainly make you think.
I want to emphasize that I do not think Spain is hopeless. Rather, it has a narrow set of limited options that will require a great deal of austerity and economic pain on the part of Spain and significant help from the rest of Europe, combined with the forbearance and patience of the bond market or massive buying of Spanish bonds by the ECB for an extended period of time. I think it will need to be the latter, as the bond market is on the brink of breaking down on Spanish debt, failing a realistic path to economic balance and growth. The way ahead is most difficult and treacherous. It appears to me that at the end of the day only ECB participation can buy Spain the time it needs. If they give Spain the time, it can get through. But the pain will then be spread to the valuation of the euro and thus the entire eurozone.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
U.S. Mortgage Refinancing: Stimulative or Redistributive? / Economics / US Economy
By: Paul_L_Kasriel
This "etude" has nothing to do with today's economic or market events. Rather, it is a little "acorn" for you to bury today and dig up in the future when some partial-equilibrium yahoo on CNBC says that total spending in the economy will get a boost as households refinance their mortgages at lower interest rates. Yes, the folks doing the refinancing will now have more income left over after making their monthly mortgage payment to spend on other things.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, April 20, 2012
Get Ready for 'Hot' Inflation / Economics / Inflation
By: Submissions
Gregor Macdonald writes: Ideological deflationists and inflationists alike find themselves both facing the same problem. The former still carry the torch for a vicious deflationary juggernaut sure to overpower the actions of the mightiest central banks on the planet. The latter keep expecting not merely a strong inflation but a breakout of hyperinflation.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Mark-to-Market: From David Hume to Adam Smith…From Ludwig von Mises to Hiroshima / Economics / Economic Theory
By: Andrew_Butter
From Daniel James Sanchez of the Mises Institute (somewhat condensed):
According to Ludwig von Mises, the notion of money as a measure of value is an artifact of the "classical economics" of Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and John Stuart Mill, who, by and large believed that value was an objective attribute of “goods”. Economic actors, according to classical theory, only exchanged goods if the respective values were equal.
Mises had another theory which he called the subjective-marginal-utility theory of value, where value is derived from utility and valuation is a matter of preferring one set of goods over another, according to the goods' respective utilities.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Must Understand Issue – U.S. Unemployment! / Economics / Unemployment
By: Ian_R_Campbell
Why Read This: Because it is important that when your read articles on Job Reports you understand what Structural Unemployment is, and what it means to economic growth.
Featured Article: An April 9 article by Joe Duarte discusses the April 6 U.S. Jobs Report in the context of Structural Unemployment. In his article, Duarte concludes:
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Falling Standard of Living for Average American's, Debt/Income/Productivity / Economics / US Debt
By: John_Mauldin
Lacy Hunt kicks things off with a bang in Hoisington's Quarterly Review and Outlook, this week's Outside the Box:
"The standard of living of the average American continues to fall."
The reason, in a word: debt. Lacy explains what happens:
"Efforts by fiscal and monetary authorities to sustain growth by further debt accumulation may produce some short-term benefit. Sadly, these interludes fade quickly as the debt becomes more destabilizing. The net result of increased indebtedness then becomes the opposite of what policymakers intend when they promote economic growth by either borrowing funds for increased government expenditures or encourage consumers to borrow with artificial and temporary incentives."
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Seniors Worried about the Debt They Are Passing on to Their Heirs? / Economics / Pensions & Retirement
By: Paul_L_Kasriel
I recently celebrated my 65th birthday, which allowed me to become eligible for Medicare. On May 1, I will begin collecting Social Security benefits. I was curious to see what has been happening to combined federal expenditures on Social Security and Medicare in relation to total federal expenditures excluding those for national defense. My curiosity was satisfied by the data in Chart 1.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
The Cyclical Macroeconomic Impact of Taxmageddon 2013 / Economics / Taxes
By: Paul_L_Kasriel
As you file your 2011 federal income taxes, you are being bombarded in the media with frightening talk about an impending Taxmageddon befalling us as we wake up on January 1, 2013. Of course, if some of the more apocalyptic predictions of the coming end on December 21, 2012, of the “Long Count” Mayan calendar come to pass, then we will not have to concern ourselves with Taxmageddon 2013. But assuming that most of us will be around for January 1, 2013, what is Taxmageddon all about and what will be its cyclical macroeconomic impact on the U.S. economy?
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, April 16, 2012
Edgar the Entrepreneur Demonstrates Harm the Minimum-wage Inflicts on Workers / Economics / Economic Theory
By: MISES
Daniel James Sanchez writes: Edgar the Exploiter is a wonderful animated short by Tomasz Kaye that defends voluntary employer-employee relations and demonstrates the harm that policies like minimum-wage laws inflict on the very people they are supposed to help.
Edgar is a capitalist who hires Simon as an unskilled laborer, until a minimum-wage law impels Edgar to lay Simon off.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, April 16, 2012
Why Has the American Economic System Failed? / Economics / US Economy
By: Jesse
"We always want to keep in mind what the function, the purpose, of the economy is. The purpose of an economy is not producing GDP. It is increasing the welfare of citizens, and it is increasing the welfare of most citizens. And the American economic system has failed, and failed very badly. Most Americans today are worse off, most American households have lower real income adjusted for inflation than they had fifteen years ago."
Sunday, April 15, 2012
March U.S. CPI Inflation Points Highlights Economic Risks / Economics / Inflation
By: Tony_Pallotta
Friday's release of the March consumer price index (CPI) highlights the risk facing the US economy as we have been discussing over the past few weeks. When the US exited the 2008 recession (using exited loosely) it was not final demand from consumers that initiated growth but rather government stimulus. Debt as is the case with most recoveries is what fuels the initial leg.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Spain in Debt Crisis War, Fighting to Stop Turning into a Black Economy / Economics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
By: John_Mauldin
I fully intended to ignore Spain this week. Really, truly I did. I had my letter all planned, but then a few notes drew my attention, and the more I reflected on them, the more I realized that the inflection point that I thought the ECB had pushed down the road for at least a year with their recent €1 trillion LTRO is now rushing toward us much faster than ECB President Draghi had in mind when he launched his massive funding operation.So, we simply must pay attention to what Spain has done this week – which, to my surprise, seems to have escaped the attention of the major media. What we will find may be considered a tipping point when the crisis is analyzed by some future historian. And then we'll get back to some additional details on the US employment situation, starting with a few rather shocking data points. What we'll see is that for most people in the US the employment level has not risen, even as overall employment is up by 2 million jobs since the end of the recession in 2009. And there are a few other interesting items. Are we really going to see 2 billion jobs disappear in the next 30 years?