Tag Archives: Uncategorized

Rail Week Ending 12 December 2015: Bad Data Continues And Marginally Worse Than Last Week Week 49 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 returned to contraction year-over-year, which accounts for approximately half of movements and weekly railcar counts continued deeply in contraction. So who would’ve thought all that ‘monetary stimulus’ wouldn’t work???;)...

Another setback for economic forecasters as this index falls below 50, indicating contraction:Seems to me the Fed has gotten lost in its own confused rhetoric, but that’s another story. Point here is fed funds are a quarter point higher which will will make no discernible difference to macroeconomic outcomes, including the Fed’s employment and inflation mandates. FED RAISES RATES BY 25 BASIS POINTS, FIRST SINCE 2006

“Often wrong but never in doubt”?;) Quote from Mario Draghi: But there is no doubt that if we had to intensify the use of our instruments to ensure that we achieve our price stability mandate, we would. There cannot be any limit to how far we are willing to deploy our instruments, within our mandate, and to achieve our mandate. And indeed the European Court of Justice has stated that the ECB must be allowed “broad discretion” when it “prepares and implements an open market operations...

Transcript: Interview with Economist Warren Mosler Interesting- total sales rate unchanged, but domestic vehicle sales rate down again. In other words, not currently growing: Motor Vehicle SalesHighlightsConsumers have really shown their strength the last three months, buying vehicles at a 12-year high annualized rate of 18.2 million. That’s right, for three months in a row. The results, however, do not point to a monthly gain for the motor vehicle component of the November retail sales...

Sales = gross income, and profits are net income: Still down: Adjusted for inflation housing prices are about where they were 10 years ago:

Output was revised up, but mainly due to growing unsold inventory, with other spending revised lower and showing more deceleration than the first release: GDPHighlightsThird-quarter GDP is revised to an annualized plus 2.1 percent, up 6 tenths from the initial estimate but showing less strength by the consumer with final sales now at plus 2.7 from plus 3.0 percent. Higher inventories are a big factor in the upward revision, subtracting 6 tenths from GDP vs an initial 1.4 percent...

Rail Week Ending 14 November 2015: Contraction Grows Week 45 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 grew. Not much happening:

Euro, the moment of Truth [embedded content]

LA area Port Traffic declined in October By Bill McBrideFirst, from the WSJ: Quiet U.S. Ports Spark Slowdown Fears For the first time in at least a decade, imports fell in both September and October at each of the three busiest U.S. seaports, according to data from trade researcher Zepol Corp. analyzed by The Wall Street Journal. …The declines came during a stretch from late summer to early fall known in the transportation world as peak shipping season, when cargo volumes typically surge...