More Financial Industry Shenanigans

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Aug 17, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments Today’s Wall Street Journal has a fascinating article entitled, “Beware of ‘Independent’ Investing Research.”  The story demonstrates the increasingly intimate relationship between the financial services industry and financial academia.  Wall Streeters are sponsoring university ‘research’ that, not surprisingly, supports particular products that they are...
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Producer prices up is a good thing

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Aug 17, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments Analysis: Such is the nature of panic that when minor news is slightly negative there can be a massive response.  One of the sources of panic of late has been a fear of deflation setting in.  I have discussed the evils of deflation on the blog before but here is a short refresher. If consumers consistently expect prices to go down on all goods they don’t have an incentive to spend money...
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Industry is strengthening

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Aug 17, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments Dating back to the spring of 2009 industrial production in the United States has been one of the strongest economic sectors.  So when industrial production slipped in June along with other disappointing economic news, there was a mini-panic.  However, July’s numbers were again positive. The Federal Reserve reports this morning that U.S. industrial production was up 1% in July. ...
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Sales at Wal-Mart mixed

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Aug 17, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments Good morning everyone! There is a slew of news this morning worth writing about.  First up is Wal-Mart which reported its second quarter earnings this morning.  In short, profits at the world’s largest retailer were up 3.6%.  However, U.S. same-store sales were down for the fifth consecutive quarter.  Same-store sales compares each store’s current quarter results to the year before. ...
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Economic growth in Europe surprises big time

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Aug 13, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments Second quarter economic statistics for Europe are out today and the numbers are very surprising.  The growth, while a modest (by U.S. standards) 1.0%, was the fastest in four years.  That 1.0% growth was as compared to the first quarter of 2010.  When compared to the second quarter of 2009, growth was 1.9% higher. Analysis: Here is a statement on the fickleness of the financial markets.  Back at...
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Retail sales surprise on the good side

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Aug 13, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments In the month of July, U.S retail sales were much stronger than expected, growing for the first time in 3 months.  Specifically, the U.S. Commerce Department recorded an increase of 0.4%.  Most of this increase was made up of increased spending on automobiles and gas.  Sans car purchases retail sales were still up 0.2%.  Basically these results were in line with expectations. Analysis: I consider...
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Productivity is slipping

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Aug 10, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments This morning the Department of Labor will be issuing its U.S. job productivity figures.  The numbers are expected to show a decline in the efficiency of U.S. workers. Analysis: Much may be made by the press about slipping productivity.  However, I am not that concerned.  Almost two years ago I had said that when the U.S. economy emerged from recession that productivity was likely to surge.  This...
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