U.S. Created 201,000 Jobs in March

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Mar 30, 2011 in Blog | 0 comments According to massive payroll firm, ADP, the U.S. economy created 201,000 jobs in March.   Analysis: Really there isn’t much to say here other than that this big job add figure is very welcome.  Even in a month where the public’s focus was on crises in the Middle East and Japan, businesses continued to make analytical decisions, such as hiring people to do necessary work. ...
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Job Losses Down Tremendously

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Mar 30, 2011 in Blog | 0 comments Independent survey firm, Challenger, Gray & Christmas (CGC) of Chicago, announced that planned firings are down 39% from March of last year.  This percentage figure represents translates into planned job losses of 41,528.  Additionally, compared to just last month, planned firings are down 18%.   Analysis: Data from many sources are now demonstrating that job losses are down...
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Consumer Confidence Falling Is No Big Deal

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Mar 29, 2011 in Blog | 0 comments This morning the Conference Board reported that March consumer confidence fell to 63.4 from February’s (revised upward) level of 72.0.   Analysis: This result had to be expected given the uncertainty generated by the crises in both the Middle East and Japan, as well as the resulting increase in prices of consumer goods, especially gas.  However, the good news is that March’s...
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Consumer Spending and Incomes Rise

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Mar 28, 2011 in Blog | 0 comments This morning the U.S. Department of Commerce announced February’s consumer spending and income numbers.  Spending was up 0.7% versus an expectation by economists of up by 0.6%.  Similarly, income was up 0.3% compared to the 0.4% up that economists had predicted.  Lastly, the savings rate declined slightly to 5.8%.   Analysis: The consumer spending number is powerful evidence of...
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Government Support of Economy Fading

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Mar 27, 2011 in Blog | 0 comments During the onset of the Great Recession the Federal Government, along with the Federal Reserve, stepped into the U.S. economy to shore up its failing foundations.  Now the end of that artificial support is being curtailed. I consider this to be a very good thing because, in my opinion, the Federal Reserve in particular has too much stimulus in the economy.  ‘Too much stimulus’ is...
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Middle East Unrest Update

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Mar 26, 2011 in Blog | 0 comments Back in February I published an intuitive assessment of the Middle East unrest that has been a fairly accurate rendition of the events that have unfolded throughout the troubled region.  As effective as intuition is at providing insight into moments where facts are not forthcoming, or absent altogether, it is just a snapshot of a moment in time.  So intuitive assessments have to be updated and...
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Escalating Tension Between Palestinians and Israel

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Mar 25, 2011 in Blog | 0 comments While the Middle East has been embroiled in foment and near-revolution since January the usual suspects of regional tension, the Palestinians and Israel, have been very quiet.  Not so anymore.  From the outside looking into the situation between these long-time rivals it looks as if the Palestinians are trying to provoke Israel into retaliation.  Such an action would send the entire region into...
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