Each month one or two high-profile government reports show the US is growing, adding jobs and generally recovering from the Great Recession. But it’s not
A too-strong currency is, in theory, supposed to make it harder to sell things to cheap-currency countries, thus crimping corporate profits and by implication pretty
Between that Russian plane being taken down by a soda can bomb and the recent Paris attacks, travel is losing some of its appeal. Last
One of the questions on analysts’ minds lately is whether stock prices can keep moving up when corporate sales and profits are falling. But the
Today’s financial world is a tough place for the average person but paradise for rich guys. As easy money raises asset prices, the owners of
The big retail chains are generally seen as pretty good barometers of the health of “the consumer.” And since — in today’s late-cycle debt-binge pseudo-capitalism
Wal-Mart just announced flat year-over-year sales, causing its shares to fall by 9% and wiping $20 billion from its market cap. Which would be unremarkable
The past few days have seen another batch of blah economic reports in the US: Weak U.S. retail sales hint at slower economic growth (Reuters)
US factory orders tanked again this morning, and were generally reported that way at first. To take just a few of the low-lights: Factory orders
Among the many things that mystify economists these days, the biggest might be the lingering perception, despite six years of ostensible recovery, that the average
Another day, another “unexpectedly” bad economic report. Lately it seems like a lot of what US government statisticians say comes as an unpleasant surprise for
Sometimes little things are the start of much bigger things. Probably the most famous historical example of this is the June 1914 assassination of an
Warren Buffett’s classic observation that “You only see who’s swimming naked when the tide goes out” is being tossed around more frequently these days, as
Twelve short months ago, the immediate future looked like a lock. Overvalued equities had to fall, ridiculously-low interest rates had to rise, and beaten-down precious
Of all the problems with fiat currency, the most basic is that it empowers the dark side of human nature. We’re potentially good but infinitely
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