Producer prices up

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Sep 15, 2009 in Blog | 0 comments Just as there is the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to measure consumer-level inflation, there is a Producer Price Index (PPI) to measure manufacturer-level inflation. In August the Labor Department reported the PPI was up 1.7%. This is practically the perfect number. Much of Wall Street fretted in the spring that the lack of money flows and spooked consumer spending would result in a terrifying...
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Retail sales finally up

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Sep 15, 2009 in Blog | 0 comments For the month of August retail sales were up 2.7%. This compared to a consensus expectation of up 2.0%. This kind of big outperformance, 35% to be exact, is encouraging and suggests that the virtuous circle of “good stock market performance leading to increased consumer confidence leading to additional spending leading to better profit performance leading to better stock market...
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Our culture of lying

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Sep 13, 2009 in Best of the Blog, Blog | 0 comments Let’s step slightly outside the bounds of finance and talk about something that distresses me; something not often discussed in our culture. Namely, our culture of lying. I bring this up, not to moralize (because that’s not me), but to send up a corrupting influence in our society. When I say culture of lying I am referring to lies both small and large. In the small lie category we...
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Ad pages down

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Sep 11, 2009 in Blog | 0 comments One of the more interesting, yet subtle, indicators that I use to gauge the mood of the consumer is to check out the thickness of big advertiser heavy magazines. You know, mags like Vogue, Cosmopolitan, GQ, or Details. There are plenty of others, but these magazines are in the business of selling advertising designed to induce needless spending. Have you noticed how thin these rags have gotten...
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Leases resume at Chrysler

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Sep 11, 2009 in Blog | 0 comments Happy Friday folks! The WSJ is reporting this morning that Chrysler is resuming the leasing of its cars. Recall that a year ago they stopped leasing vehicles amidst the mounting doom of the financial system meltdown and recession. The automaker just emerged from bankruptcy 3 months ago. For it to begin taking IOUs for its cars is a sign of two things: it is comfortable with its own solvency and...
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Continued declines in consumer debt

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Sep 9, 2009 in Blog | 0 comments The Federal Reserve reported yesterday that in July for the sixth consecutive month consumer debt declined. Specifically, debt, sans real estate loans, declined 10.4%. This large drop was a record. Clearly consumers are taking out fewer loans for automobiles, and using credit cards less and less. The spin from most analysts and economists is that these numbers bode ill for the economic recovery....
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Even the CEO of Goldman knows…

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Sep 9, 2009 in Blog | 0 comments Good morning everyone! I hope Labor Day was relaxing and rejuvenating for each of you. The Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, made some noteworthy comments in Frankfurt regarding investment bank compensation. He said that anger about ridiculous and outsized bank pay packages was “understandable and appropriate.” Blankfein also called for an entire ban on multi-year...
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