Economic Data

Citigroup has just released a forecast which is very troublingregarding employment and growth in the Spanish economy.  With unemployment already having hit 17.9%, Citigroup expects layoffs to increase this to 22% in 2010.  Below…

The data being reported out of Asia is in marked contrast to what we are seeing in Europe and North America.  Last week, I noted that Singapore had put up big numbers.  China is also expanding robustly. Compare that with the data coming out…

In the just finished second quarter of 2009, the UK economy was contracting a massive 5.6% from the year ago period.  This is the worst performance since records began in 1955. What’s more, the data surprised to the downside, with the…

Not necessarily. There’s a lot more to it than just GDP.  Last year at almost exactly this time, I mentioned this in my post Recession while GDP is growing? because a lot of people were getting excited about the fact that Q2 GDP was…

When last week’s US jobless claims number was released, I indicated it was artificially low because of changes in the summer auto production schedules.  Rather than look at the numbers as they are released from week to week, we should look…

On the surface this week’s jobless claims data look very good. Initial claims came in at 522,000, the best since the first week of the year and pulling the 4-week average below 600,000 for the first time in about six months.  Moreover,…

The latest figures on claims for unemployment insurance in the United States were released this morning.  The data showed Initial claims of 565,000, putting the figure under 600,000 for the first time since January.  But, continuing claims…

Everyone is trying to gauge when a ‘recovery’ is going to occur in the United States and globally. Some see imminent recovery. Other like myself see a late-2009 or early-2010 recovery. Yet others, including most readers of this site, see no…

The labor market in the United States lost 467,00 jobs in June.  But this was just the headline number as unemployment rose to 9.5%.  Unfortunately, the deep dive shows a situation that mirrors this weakness. Establishment Survey…

The U.S. Department of Labor released the latest data for unemployment insurance as it does every Thursday at 830ET.  The seasonally adjusted numbers reported were 614,000 initial claims and 6.702 million continuing claims. While this…