Economic Data

Dollar, yen and Swiss franc broadly higher; sentiment deteriorates after Bernanke’s speech. Euro trips ahead of $1.47 amid concerns over Greece’s package and soft German IP. Brazil and Poland both expected to hike by 25bps; Brazil’s…

It just isn't going to work, and it's very interesting that the man who invested this type of what I call a voodoo economic policy -George H.W. Bush, Carnegie Mellon University, 10 April 1980, in reference to Ronald Reagan’s…

So what are the realistic chances of another bout of QE right now? Well according to Robin Harding they are pretty slim, and it is hard not to agree with him (due to the anticipated voter backlash in the US), yet among professional analysts…

I am more cautious than optimistic on risk assets and the global economy. From where I sit global growth prospects are not improving; they are weakening.

As Jon Hilsenrath pointed out in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal Bernanke has already indicated that the hurdle to more quantitative easing is very high. This is not to say that QE3 is off the table forever. But QE3 will only become a…

The BLS invented 206,000 jobs. The Bureau has constructed an equation called the "Net Birth/Death Model." Its purpose is to count "Business births." That is, new jobs in new businesses net the number of lost jobs in "Business deaths":…

The BELLS are a group of four countries (Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) who in their wisdom decided to adopt and then stick “come hell or high water” to a currency peg with to Euro. Thus was opened one of the more interesting and…

The soft patch in and of itself is not a problem. There is always some sort of mid-cycle slowdown. The real problem for economic growth bulls (and risk assets) is that this particular soft patch is increasingly likely to be met with…

Jim Rogers is bullish on Asia. In a twenty-minute interview with the BBC, he explains why? Hat tip Paul Kedrosky. Like Paul, "I find many of his rhetorical tricks maddening" but it is an informative interview nonetheless. Videos below

The personal savings rate came in at 4.9%, the lowest since October 2008 before the Lehman crisis caused savings rates to jump up. Below are a few charts for a historical perspective.