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Whoops, less than expected, and as the chart shows the seasonally adjusted rate of sales continues to decelerate from the prior peak months as weakness that began with the collapse of oil capex continues to spread to the rest of the economy:From another source that spins flat to down sales as a positive for continued growth. Seems to me that if any of the ‘pieces’ grow at a lower rate than last year, some other ‘piece’ has to grow at a faster rate than it grew at last year to make up for it....

PMI Manufacturing IndexHighlightsGrowth in Markit Economics’ manufacturing sample is slowing to a crawl, at 51.3 for final February which is, next only to February’s flash of 51.0, the second lowest reading since October 2012. January, at 52.4, was a good month for the manufacturing sector with industrial production up and durable orders up, but the early indications on February are uniformly negative.Production in this report slowed as did new orders where growth is at a 3-1/2 year low....

Christian Bale as perspicacious hedge-fund manager Michael Barry in The Big Short (2015) First published (as a slightly edited version of the original, below) in the BFI Sight and Sound Magazine, 28 February 2016. As this goes to press, global capital markets appear to be stabilizing after another period of intense, and scary stock market volatility. This set the context for the arrival in Britain of Adam McKay’s The Big Short – a film about the American sub-prime mortgage meltdown, based on...

So at current prices Saudis aren’t making much progress towards their goal of higher sales: First a move up on the inventory thing, followed by a move down on the inventory thing. And looks to me like there’s a lot more downside coming from that inventory thing, etc.:Pretty lame bounce so far from an index that zig zags so much:

Crossposted from Common Dreams Isaiah Poole Four people who have been at the center of some of the nation’s biggest Wall Street scandals have come together to send a message to the 2016 presidential candidates: Pledge to stand against Wall Street fraud and corruption – not just with words, but with the kind of actions that Americans have long expected but have yet to see. The four veterans of battles with banksters – Gary J. Aguirre, William K. Black, Richard M. Bowen III and Michael...

Brexit GIF

Nice headline, but charts looking like it’s just a ‘volatility’ in a down trend: Durable Goods OrdersHighlightsThe factory sector bounced back strongly in January, indicated first by last week’s industrial production report and now by durable goods orders which are up a very strong 4.9 percent. Aircraft did add to the gain but when excluding transportation equipment, durable orders still rose 1.8 percent. And core capital goods orders, which had been weakening, bounced back strongly with a...

Another worse than expected and details deteriorating as well: Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index A bit better than expected but not the price data, and as the chart shows it’s not going anywhere: Existing Home SalesHighlightsExisting home sales, up 0.4 percent in January to a 5.47 million annualized rate, held on to the bulk of December’s surge. Year-on-year sales growth is in the double digits, at 11.0 percent. In a sign of underlying household strength, the single-family component rose...

This is volatile so best to go by the 3 mo moving average, as shown on the chart: Chicago Fed National Activity IndexHighlightsDoubts over the outlook may be building but January was a solid month for the economy as the national activity index rose to plus 0.28 from a revised minus 0.34 in December. The gain lifts the 3-month average to minus 0.15 from minus 0.30. It was a jump in industrial production that led January’s charge, lifting the production component which contributed 0.27 to the...

It’s all going the wrong way now, with fewer proactively spending more than their incomes to ‘offset’ those desiring to spend less than their incomes. That is, as previously discussed, the private sector tends to be highly pro cyclical: Online lenders see cash crunch By Jon MarinoFeb 19 (CNBC) — A cash crunch is impeding the online lending industry’s growth as the cost of borrowing grows, funds become increasingly scarce and ratings agencies maintain a cautious outlook toward the...