My take is we’ve had a one time upward adjustment in prices due to increased costs from Covid-related supply issues, along with supply side disruptions from the Trump/Biden tariffs. Prices seem to have begun to level off and go sideways, which would mean CPI increases returning to the lower, pre-Covid monthly increases: However, if energy costs don’t level off and instead rise dramatically, CPI will be dragged upward as well:
Read More »Employment, China
Employment generates income and spending. The gap vs the pre-covid path is closing at an ever slowing rate. And the cost of living is rising faster than wages, which exacts a toll as well. These are inflation-adjusted: This came out last week:
Read More »Personal income and spending
This series keeps drifting lower as personal income isn’t keeping up with price increases: And the economy itself isn’t growing real personal income the way it did pre-covid: Likewise, personal consumption is sluggish: People are saving less and less every month:
Read More »GDP, jobless claims
Typical post war recession type of outcome, as previously discussed: One reason for the low unemployment in the US is that for a lot of people you need a job to get health insurance:https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/jobless-claims Reported inflation will fall rapidly unless energy prices increase from current levels,which is likely given current Saudi OSP’s and EU responses to the war:
Read More »Oil price, Radio interview, Fed Atlanta, Canada
Europe’s debtors must pawn their gold for Eurobond Redemption
And their central banks can buy unlimited amounts to support the price. Not that they would do that… Europe’s debtors must pawn their gold for Eurobond Redemption By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard May 29 (Telegraph) — The German scheme — known as the European Redemption Pact — offers a form of “Eurobonds Lite” that can be squared with the German constitution and breaks the political logjam. It is a highly creative way out of the debt crisis, but is not a soft option for Italy,...
Read More »Thinking Caps On – Grab a Coffee – Sales/Trading Commentary
From: JJ LANDOAt: May 14 2013 07:41:14 Consider the following thought experiment. These are the scenarios:A. The Treasury decides that it will fund itself 30% more in Overnight Bills and reduce issuance across the curve.B. The Fed announces it will increase QE by 30% (it will remit the net income of this activity back to the Treasury like taxes)C. Congress announces a new tax on all passive income from USTs, to holders both at home and abroad (ie Central Banks), for all...
Read More »Consumer sentiment, real retail sales, industrial production, wages
A bit of an uptick but still trending lower: Sales going sideways on an inflation adjusted basis: This sector seems to be doing ok: Not keeping up with inflation so probably not causing it: Lowest income earners (no college) have been catching up some, but also lagging inflation:
Read More »New manufacturers orders, vehicle sales, unemployment claims, rents, oil prices
This component is going nowhere: Still trying to catch up from the oil capex collapse of 2016 and covid collapse: Not good: This is an all time low as people scramble to get extra jobs to deal with higher prices,like paying rent, for example: Oil prices taking a breather with the announcements of releases from strategic petroleum reserves. Price direction, however, is instead set by Saudi OSP premiums to benchmarks which were just raised for the 3rd month and this time to...
Read More »Saudi price hike, private payrolls, new hires, corporate profits
This could easily drive oil up past $200/barrel and trigger a serious recession. This survey/forecast is higher than precovid. The full employment report comes out Friday: Gross new hires have been trending lower: Corporate profits jumped after the covid dip and have recently flattened:
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