Rail Week Ending 28 November 2015: Contraction Growing Faster. Rail Traffic in November Down 10.4%. Week 47 of 2015 shows same week total rail traffic (from same week one year ago) declined according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR) traffic data. Intermodal traffic contracted year-over-year, which accounts for approximately half of movements and weekly railcar counts continued in contraction. The 52 week rolling average contraction is continuing to grow. Rail counts for the...
Read More »Payrolls, Trade
The growth rate continues to decelerate (see chart): NFP HighlightsPayroll growth is solid and, though wages aren’t building steam, today’s employment report fully cements expectations for December liftoff. Nonfarm payrolls rose a very solid 211,000 in November which is safely above expectations for 190,000. And there’s 35,000 in upward revisions to the two prior months with October now standing at a very impressive 298,000. The unemployment rate is steady and low at 5.0 percent with the...
Read More »Debt and Recession, Jolts
This shows how private sector credit deceleration is associated with recessions. It’s about the need for those spending more than their incomes to offset those spending less than their incomes. And most often private sector deficit spending decelerates some time after public sector deficit spending decelerates and fails to provide the income and net financial assets that supports private sector deficit spending. United States : JOLTSHighlightsIn a positive sign for labor demand, job...
Read More »Employment chart, China trade, SNB
The red line tends to drag down the blue line, often when deficit spending gets too low: Exports drop again, imports drop more, so the trade surplus grows, and the US should see more imports and fewer exports, while euro zone imports are down which adds to their trade surplus: China’s Trade Drop Means More Stimulus Measures Are Coming Exports drop for a fourth month, import declines match recordTrade surplus to help ease currency depreciation pressureChina’s exports fell for a fourth...
Read More »Full time employment finally above previous peak!
By the way, if you count workers employed full time only in August this year we surpassed the December 2007 peak, and after a fall in September, we're over again now. So it took only about 8 years to get back were we were. Yes, the economy is peachy.
Read More »Payrolls
Much higher than expected, so unless next month’s number settles back down the Fed will be expected to hike rates some. Note from the chart that the last few November releases showed similar spikes followed by much lower prints: Employment SituationHighlightsBring on that rate hike! Nonfarm payrolls surged 271,000 in October vs expectations for 190,000 and against Econoday’s top-end forecast for 240,000. Revisions in prior months are not a factor. The unemployment is down 1 tenth at 5.0...
Read More »The economy is performing well; good to know
New Employment Situation Report is out. Not bad, given the last couple of months. In October, total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 271,000 and the unemployment rate is at 5%. The employment-population ratio, which seemed to start to inch up last year, however, now looks again stagnant. Even though it seems markets are happy with job creation above 200k per month, we need something more like 400 for a healthy recovery, and to bring the employment-population ratio up. Earnings have...
Read More »Job Cuts, Yellen Comment, Saudi Pricing, German Factory Orders, Maersk Job Cuts, China Trade Show
Down a bit but still trending higher since the oil price collapse: Seems she still doesn’t realize negative rates are just another tax: FED’S YELLEN: IF ECONOMY SIGNIFICANTLY DETERIORATED, NEGATIVE RATES AND OTHER TOOLS WOULD BE ON THE TABLE This implies the rest of Saudi pricing remains the same from November, when discounts to benchmarks were substantially increased. In general, discounts have been increased over the last few months: Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter,...
Read More »Atlanta Fed, German Engineering Orders, Misc News, Redbook retail sales, North Dakota, Factory orders
Down to 1.9 for Q4, after being very close for Q1, Q2 and Q3: German Engineering Orders Hit by Lower Demand From China By Nina AdamNov 2 (WSJ) — Germany’s VDMA engineering federation said Monday that its “plant and machinery makers are battling against global markets’ adversities.” German mechanical engineering orders slumped 13% year-over-year in September, hit by a 18% drop in foreign demand. Foreign orders from outside the eurozone were down 7% in the nine months through September from...
Read More »Industrial Production, JOLTS, Consumer Sentiment
The chart says it all.Not good! Industrial ProductionHighlightsIndustrial production continues to sink, down 0.2 percent in September which is slightly better than the Econoday consensus for minus 0.3 percent. The manufacturing component continues to sink, down 0.1 percent for a second straight decline and the fourth decline in five months. Industrial production was revised sharply upward for August, from an initial decline of minus 0.4 percent to only minus 0.1 percent. But the improvement...
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