Apparently, the trade talks with China are entering a final phase with China trying to renege on issues already agreed to and Trump threatening to raise tariffs to the levels he wanted in the first place. This sounds like a lot of posturing to me. Note the main trade negotiator for China is still coming […]
First quarter earnings season’s last big week just ended, and the numbers were good overall, but it was the economic numbers reported this week that were more of interest. The ADP jobs report for April rose to 275,000 from 151,000. These are private sector jobs. The official number out this morning came in at an […]
There were few reports released this week, but the ones that were showed us a continued healthy economy. Existing homes sales for March was down to 5.21 million from 5.48 million. However, new home sales were up to 692,000 from 662,000 and with last week’s homebuilder’s index rising the summer sales season looks, if not […]
The market peaked last year and then corrected in December, falling 10%. It made a ‘V’ bottom and has run right back up to the peak today. There has been little back and filling where the market struggles higher and therein lies an issue. Most markets do struggle and that struggle is a tug of […]
Big banks are making fewer and fewer mortgage loans despite the lack of foreclose risks to them; they are choosing to make fewer loans. The reason according to Jamie Dimon CEO of JPM is that bad mortgage rules are hindering the healthy growth in his industry. He cited too many regulators were involved in crafting […]
The middle class in recent years is not growing as it had from the mid 1990’s to the mid 2000’s. It is not a mystery as to why, it is because of rising costs in three areas; housing, healthcare and education. Also, global competition and technology are squeezing middle class careers. It is not a […]
The European Central Bank met this week and left interest rates unchanged. That was expected. Mario Draghi the president said they will continue to reinvest the principal payments from their recently completed bond-buying program for an extended period beyond the time when the ECB will increase interest rates. Since they plan on not increasing interest rates […]
All indications are good when it comes to the Chinese/U.S. trade talks. Yesterday it was reported that 90% of the issues have been resolved and the stock market has reacted well. However, there is that last 10% remaining. We do not know what it is, but most likely it is the hardest part of all […]
The ADP jobs report out this morning showed 129,000 new positions were produced for March. This report is not official and only covers the private sector. It is also often at odds when compared to the official report that is due out on Friday. The official report is considered more accurate, but that may not […]
This is a question pundits and economists would love to answer and most have an opinion. Someone will be right as the opinions vary from starting this year to within the next five years. The truth is, no one really knows. What we do know is that the current economic up-cycle has lasted a very […]