Archive for January, 2010
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Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Econbrowser
Or, the end of the consumption follows a random walk view.
Following up this post last week on Lee et al., here is another analysis of consumption behavior, but this one is cross-country. From the abstract to “After the Crisis: Lower Consumption Growth but Narrower Global Imbalances?” by Ashoka Mody […]
Q4 GDP SURGES. WILL THE LABOR MARKET FOLLOW?
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[?]Submitted by The Capital Spectator
First, the good news. This morning’s release of the government’s initial estimate of fourth-quarter GDP is a blow-out number: +5.7%. That’s the highest annualized quarterly real (inflation-adjusted) rise in GDP since 2003 and it’s also up sharply from Q3’s 2.2% rise. In addition, the Q4 number exceeded […]
BEN’S BACK IN TOWN
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[?]Submitted by The Capital Spectator
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was confirmed for a second term today in the Senate, albeit by a relatively thin margin: 70-30. That’s reportedly the “thinnest approval ever extended to a chairman in the central bank’s 96-year history.” Just a few days ago there was some question as […]
DIAGNOSING THE PANIC
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[?]Submitted by The Capital Spectator
Professor John Cochrane offers his take on the financial crisis of 2008 in the current issue of the Cato Institute’s Regulation.
His basic argument: “the signature event of this financial crisis was the ‘run,’ ‘panic,’ ‘flight to quality,’ or whatever you choose to call it, that started in […]
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES
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[?]Submitted by The Capital Spectator
Last week we considered the possibility that the declining trend in new jobless claims had run its course. Today’s update on new filings for jobless benefits offers a reprieve from that ominous possibility. The reprieve may be temporary, of course, but for today at least it appears […]
LOOKING (AND FEELING) BLUE
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[?]Submitted by The Capital Spectator
What shade of blue are you?
HOENIG’S DISSENT
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[?]Submitted by The Capital Spectator
The Federal Reserve voted to keep rates unchanged today, but the vote came with glitch. “Voting against the policy action was Thomas M. Hoenig, who believed that economic and financial conditions had changed sufficiently that the expectation of exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for […]
THE FED’S SHOCKING DISCLOSURE (NOT)
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[?]Submitted by The Capital Spectator
The Fed announced that the target range for Fed funds would remain at 0% to 0.25%. This will suprise no one, given the weakness in the labor market, the rising political vulnerability of the President (who makes his State of the Union speech tonight), and recent questions […]
A SMALL DOSE OF PERSPECTIVE FOR EQUITIES
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[?]Submitted by The Capital Spectator
A little perspective never hurts when surveying the equity landscape. There are no silver bullets, of course. But we must start somewhere in the thousand-mile journey of analyzing the possibilities in the land of equities, and a big-picture review of the global playing field is a reasonable […]
Huge Gender Degree Gap at Age 22: National Crisis, Title IX, Government Funding? Probably Not
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by CARPE DIEM
According to a report released yesterday by the BLS:
“Women were more likely than men to be enrolled in college and were more likely to have received a bachelor’s degree. Twenty-nine percent of women were attending college during the October when they were age 22, compared with 25.2% […]
First Time: Disapprove (48.8%) > Approve (48.1%)
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Source: Pollster.com. Note that individual dots are individual polls, and the line is the consensus.
Michael Moore Seeks Subsidies from MI Taxpayers
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by CARPE DIEM
“It is baffling to see the state of Michigan offer filmmaker Michael Moore a refundable tax credit for his documentary “Capitalism: A Love Story.” This subsidy should be rejected by Moore on principle alone. Moore’s acceptance of the Michigan film incentive subsidy is troubling because he has grown […]
Quote of the Day: Diversity Creed
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[?]Submitted by CARPE DIEM
“It should be remembered that diversity creed holds that we are all equal and would be proportionately represented by race across all activities but for the fact of discrimination and oppression.”
~Walter E. Williams
Change You Can Believe In, As Long As You’re Using Someone Else’s Money, And Not Your Own
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Watching Obama and Biden on TV and hearing Obama talk proudly about their “leadership,” I can’t help but remember how relatively uncharitable and uncaring they have been in the past when it comes to spending their own money. If we look at some of the years before the […]
Gone with the Wind Still #1 By Box Office, Tix Sales
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Adjusted for inflation (in 2009 dollars), Gone with the Wind ranks as the #1 all-time movie for box office receipts at $1.5 billion (released in 1939 when the average ticket price was 23 cents), and Avatar currently ranks a distant #26 at $562 million (so far).
Measured by the […]
Federal Subsidy Programs Now Exceed 2,000
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by CARPE DIEM
“January 22, 2010 is a day that should live in infamy, at least among believers in limited government. On that day, the federal government added its 2,000th subsidy program for individuals, businesses, or state and local governments. Most people are aware that federal spending is soaring, but the […]
Full, 100% Recovery for Canada Home Price Index
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[?]Submitted by CARPE DIEM
“Canadian home prices in November were up 2.6% from a year earlier, according to the Teranet-National Bank National Composite House Price Index. It was the second consecutive month of prices higher than 12 months earlier, after 10 consecutive months of 12-month deflation. The reason for the turnaround is […]
Jobs and Jobless Rates: Private vs. Government
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[?]Submitted by CARPE DIEM
The graph above displays monthly employment levels for the private sector (blue line, left scale, data here) and the government sector (red line, right scale, data here) from January 2000 through December 2009, and shows a pretty bleak job picture for America’s private sector. Since private sector employment […]
Winter Olympics Preview: Vancouver Time Lapse
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[?]Submitted by CARPE DIEM
HT: Paul Kedrosky via Twitter
What You Won’t Hear Tonight: About How Obama’s Interventionism is Eroding U.S. Prosperity
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by CARPE DIEM
“His grandiose legislative ambition has become the partially free economy’s biggest debt problem (see chart below, data here).”
Neil Reynolds writing in today’s Toronto Globe and Mail:
“When President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address tonight, he should - but won’t - report the significant U.S. decline […]
1-29-10 Daily Small Cap Market News and Stock Highlights from SmallCapVoice.com
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[?]Submitted by SmallCapVoice.com
Stocks are higher on the heels of a better-than-expected GDP report
The Commerce Department said the gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 5.7 percent during the fourth quarter, easily topping economists’ forecast for growth of 4.5 percent.
The strong GDP report could get the market back on track […]
A New Audio Interview Featuring Roy Warren, CEO of Attitude Drinks Incorporated, Is Now at SmallCapVoice.com
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[?]Submitted by SmallCapVoice.com
Attitude Introduces Milk Recovery Drink
AUSTIN, TX — (Marketwire) — 01/29/10 — SmallCapVoice.com, Inc. announced today that a new audio interview featuring, Attitude Drinks Incorporated (OTCBB: ATTD) is now available. The interview can be heard here at http://smallcapvoice.com/blog/1-28-10-audio-interview-with-attitude-drinks-incorporated-otcbb-attd/.
Roy Warren, CEO of Attitude Drinks Incorporated, stated, “We are delighted to work […]
1-28-10 Daily Small Cap Market News and Stock Highlights from SmallCapVoice.com
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by SmallCapVoice.com
Weak economic data is dragging stocks lower
Stocks slipped in early trading Thursday as upbeat earnings failed to offset uncertainty still swirling around government involvement in the market and disappointing jobless and durable goods orders reports.
Politics, not the economy, had been dictating trading over the past week. Concerns about President […]
Market Scan for Small Cap Stocks on January 28, 2009
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[?]Submitted by Ducimus Plinius
Market Scan for small cap stocks
at the close of the markets on January 28, 2009
The table below identifies the stocks returned on my scan of the US markets for small capitalizations stocks likely to display the characteristics of stocks entering Phase II, as described by Stan Weinstein.
Under $5.00
Over […]
1-27-10 Daily Small Cap Market News and Stock Highlights from SmallCapVoice.com
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by SmallCapVoice.com
Stocks fall as new home sales unexpectedly drop
Stocks fell Wednesday as investors remained skittish ahead of the president’s State of the Union address and the conclusion of the Federal Reserve’s latest interest-rate setting meeting.
The latest batch of earnings and economic reports were again overshadowed by concerns over proposed financial […]
