United States

This comes from Marc Chandler, head of the Brown Brothers Harriman Currency Strategy team (emphasis added): After today there is an important US economic report every day this week. Tomorrow's report on the March trade balance and Wed…

Below is a chart of the actual non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates as calculated via the household survey. All of the unemployment rates are down from March to April. And the broad measure is down the most, from 16.2% to 15.4%.…

In less than 30 minutes, the U.S. employment situation report is coming out. 600,000 job losses is the bogey with 8.9% as the unemployment rate.  Below, Bloomberg News talks about this.

Last week, the number of people filing new unemployment claims dipped to 601,000 on a seasonally-adjusted (SA) basis.  The unadjusted number (NSA) was even lower at 534,047.  This most recent data should bring cheer to the markets as it…

On Monday, I mentioned that the Asian Development Bank Fund was a clear sign that Asia was cutting loose from the west and looking to take care of things domestically.  WIlliam Pesek of Bloomberg News put out a piece this morning…

I have been making bullish noises of late, but I am fully cognizant of all the downside risks.  So for the sake of presenting both sides to this argument, I want to highlight the ‘dark’ side in this post based on a book I have just read.…

I am watching Bernanke at the congressional hearing.  You can see his prepared testimony at CR here.  But, the general take on what he is saying is that the economy has reached its worst rate of decline and should improve steadily until it…

Today, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) released its Non-Manufacturing Survey on Business. The overall index increased to 43.7 in April from 40.8 in March.  As 50 is the demarcation line for a growing economy, these numbers…

Kate Kelly and Jon Hilsenrath have a story on the front of the Wall Street Journal today demonstrating the real problems with the revolving door between Wall Street and the regulators.  The essence of the story is this:  new York Fed…

Last month I noted that the ISM Manufacturing index indicated that the manufacturing sector was still contracting, albeit at a slower pace.  The latest data from the month of April show the same phenomenon.  likely, the index has already…