We all know that there is a huge problem in the worldwide supply chain, but what is exactly the problem. It is not a simple problem in which we can just get back to normal because normal was already showing strain in the U.S. Over the years, the U.S. has outsourced billions of dollars of […]

The popularity of an electronic currency such as Bitcoin could doom itself simply because of its success. Governments, including the U.S., manage their currencies. They will print more money when they think the economy needs it, and they will restrict it to control inflation and slow down an overheated economy. They use money as a […]

We have seen a strong spike in inflation after the presidential election. Prior to covid, it was running about 2.5% and now it is double that. The 3-year inflation expectations put out by the government suggests that inflation will run at about 4%. Recently, the CPI (Consumer Price Index) reported an increase of only .3% […]

We are in September after a healthy move up for August. In fact, the stock market benchmark S&P 500 has risen every month for the last 7 months in a row. That is one of the longest winning streaks ever. It has made 13 record highs in August. September usually is noted for weakness, and […]

Both existing and new home sales were better than expected and better than June’s numbers. The annual rate for existing home sales rose to 5.99 million from 5.86 million and for new home sales 708,000 from 701,000. The estimates were for them to be essentially flat month-over-month. Record low mortgage rates may be helping but […]

Yesterday, the July report for the Leading Economic Indicators I came in up more than expected at .9% from .5% the month before. This gauge hopes to forecast the economy’s strength or weakness in the coming months. It is produced by the Conference Board. It is made up of 10 components and for July all […]

Reported this morning was a surge in industrial production in July. It doubled the expected number at a 1.4% increase. IP is up 6.6% year-over-year however, there are raw material shortages, and many industries are having trouble filling job openings with qualified workers. We may see a slowdown in the months ahead. Capacity also rose […]

The second quarter ‘Unit Labor Cost’ report showed a jump to 1%. It was expected that it would go up by about .8% so it was in line. However, the quarter before the labor cost shrank 2.8%. There is something very odd going on in the labor market. There is a record 10 million jobs […]

The world is still struggling with supply chain disruptions as factory orders for June in the U.S. rose by 1.5% versus last month’s 2.3%. There have been massive floods in the Hunan province in China and in Western Europe. In China, rail lines have been severely damaged and supplies of raw materials destroyed. Since economies […]

Recently, the founder of a much-hyped electric truck company, Nikola Corp was arrested. Trevor Milton was accused of claiming that his company had manufactured working truck prototypes that would revolutionize the industry. He resigned in September. The story does not end there. It ends with investors putting their hard-earned money into Nikola’s stock bidding the […]