United States

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) released its monthly report on Manufacturing, the ISM Manufacturing Report on Business®. It showed a reading of 36.2 down from 38.9. Where 50 is the demarcation line between growth and recession,…

Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor has rebuked the United States for its easy money policies, suggesting it was kicking the can down the road and setting up a greater problem later. It is high time the debate about monetary policy made…

Unemployment claims declined this week to 529,000 from a reading of 542,000 last week. These are very high numbers -- the highest figures in this business cycle. Despite the drop, all of the changes were related to seasonal factors as the…

The S&P/Case-Shiller® Home Price Indices were released yesterday. Unfortunately, I was away all day and could not post. The indices showed a further decline in home prices in the United States through September 2008 (the data most…

Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism is reporting that Larry Summers is to be tapped to head Barack Obama's National Economic Counsel.  Summers had been considered for the Treasury position, one that looks likely to go to Tim Geithner, the head…

Things were actually looking fairly good during midday given how horrible the credit markets (high yield, asset-backed and corporate) have become.  Sure, the bank stocks sold off, but the stock market in the U.S. was holding its own after…

Recently, deficit hawks have been pushing a nefarious line of argument that I need to debunk right here and right now. The line goes as follows: we need to spend government monies now to get the economy back on its feet. In a couple of…

If you are wondering why the stock market has been declining, you only need to flip your TV to C-SPAN and see Hank Paulson explaining why he has abandoned his original plan to save America from depression. Basically, Paulson has done a…

Unemployment claims rose to a monster reading of 542,000 last week. This is easily the highest figure in this business cycle and represents the largest number in 16 years. As with last week, there was absolutely nothing to like about this…

Related articles Dow Plunges 400 to Below 8,000 as S&P 500 Skids to 5-Year Low