January Chicago Business Barometer Shows New Orders Surged to the Highest Level in a Year

The Chicago Business Barometer bounced back sharply in January, the highest pace of growth in a year. The latest increase followed extreme weakness in the fourth quarter. Four out of the five components of the Barometer increased on the month. New Orders surged to the highest level in a year. Additionally, Production, the second largest component of the Barometer posted a double digit gain pushing it well above the “neutral” level.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas January 2016 Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey

The survey reports economic activity fell sharply in January according to responding executives. The production index dropped, suggesting output declined after growing throughout the 4th quarter 2015.

US Raw Steel Production

US raw steel production rose 1.1 percent last week, its fourth consecutive weekly gain, as mills operated at an ACUR of 69.8 percent. In the corresponding week last year, mills operated at an ACUR of 76.4 percent. On the year mills have produced approx. 6,000,000 tons at an ACUR of 66.5 percent, down from the approx. 7,000,000 tons at an ACUR of 76.4 percent in the same period last year.

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity for January 2016

The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond released its Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity for January 2016 and reports manufacturing activity grew mildly in January. The volume of new orders grew modestly, although shipments decreased. Manufacturers were more optimistic about future business conditions than they were a month ago, expecting faster growth in shipments and new orders.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had increased in December, improved moderately in January.

The US Department of Commerce released its December 2015 Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders:

  • New orders for manufactured durable goods in December decreased 5.1 percent. Down four of the last five months.
  • Shipments of manufactured durable goods in December, down two of the last three months, decreased 2.2 percent, following a 0.6 percent November increase.
  • Inventories of manufactured durable goods in December increased 0.5 percent following five monthly decreases.

Midwest Economy Index December Report

The Midwest Economy Index (MEI) released its December report and states the index moved up in December from November. December’s value for the relative MEI indicates that Midwest economic growth was somewhat higher than what would typically be suggested by the growth rate of the national economy.

Bureau of Economic Analysis Estimate of 2015 Fourth Quarter Growth

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released its advance estimate of fourth quarter and annual 2015 growth. This first of three estimates is based on incomplete source data and will be revised two more time.

The value of goods and services produced by the nation’s economy, less the value of goods and services used up in production, adjusted for price changes, increased at an annual rate of 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Real GDP increased 2.4 percent in 2015 (that is, from the 2014 annual level to the 2015 annual level), the same rate as 2014

Iran’s Deals with European Countries

European countries are promising BILLIONS in new deals to Iran, the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism. Italian steelmaker Danielli 5.7 billion, French car builder PSA Peugeot Citroen, 300 million (both are Euro). President of Iran, Rouhani, landed in Rome on Monday and will meet with the pope. I cannot even believe this is happening. Is greed running that rampant in the world that we will sleep with the enemy? The pope for crying out loud. The terrorists are murdering Christians and others yet the pope is going to have cocktails with that piece of camel crap? Make sense to you? It certainly makes no sense to me. From Vatican City, Rouhani travels to the “gilded” halls of Paris’ Elysee Palace. Really? 129 people were murdered in Paris not too long ago. Have the French forgotten the suffering of their own people at the hands of these radicals?

In a twist, the journalists who exposed Planned Parenthood for trafficking in baby parts (that’s even disgusting to say) have been indicted on some trumped up charge of tampering with government property or some such crap. I think they are given some $500 million annually by the American taxpayer, which they use as they please, even to donating to their political choices. Just not right.

The Humbling of the West

A few excerpts from “The Humbling of the West,” an opinion by Daniel Henninger in the Wall Street Journal 1/28/16 accompanied by three photos, he begins:

Some wonder how history will treat Barack Obama’s presidency. That depends on who writes the histories.

Secretary of State John Kerry’s account will fist pump the Iran nuclear deal as the central foreign policy event of the Obama presidency, a triumph for Western diplomacy.
But news photographs in recent weeks …document the abject humiliation of the West by Iran. Americans who plan to vote in their presidential election should look hard at these photographs (I’m sure you saw them on your TV news channel) because the West’s direction after this will turn on the decisions they make.

The first photo is of a hallway in Rome’s Capitoline Museum, a repository of art dating to Western antiquity. Out of what the government called “respect” for the sensibilities of visiting Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, the museum placed large white boxes over several nude sculptures, including a Venus created in the second century B.C.

Then, because Mr Rouhani will not attend a meal that serves alcohol to anyone, the nominally Italian government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi declined to serve wine…”

Italy signed about a dozen deals with Mr Rouhani this week totaling $18 billion…”

Yes, these are the same holier than thou camel riders that have been groping and raping Western women in Europe.

He continues

The bowing and scraping to Mr Rouhani continues this week as France and Germany sign more deals. This is not economic re-normalization….rather than reform its weak, politically unstable economies, Europe is content to make itself a dependency of the Iranian empire.

The second photo of Western submission depicts what appears to be a glee-filled meeting between the president of Iran and the leader of the world’s Catholics, Pope Francis, who gave Rouhani 40 minutes of his time…Set aside the “role” Iran has played in the death of a quarter-million Syrians and the refugees now destabilizing Europe…

The third photograph is of 10 sailors from the US Navy who are kneeling in rows, hands on their heads, on the deck of an Iranian boat…instead of outrage over Iran’s treatment of the sailors, secretary Kerry praised the Iranians’ “cooperation and quick response” (John Kerry is a eunuch)

Cooperation? Iran humiliated the sailors by making them kneel in the style of an Islamic state execution ceremony and humiliated the United States by releasing that photo…

Have a great weekend…. God bless America!

Buy American made products whenever you can, it’s good for you, good for your friends and neighbors and good for our country.
If you are hiring…try to hire a veteran…. they are loyal, disciplined, hardworking…and they deserve our support.

Remember these tidbits as the election cycle grinds on:

  • Fast & Furious-Americans killed by guns supplied to the drug cartels…by the Department of Justice-Eric Holder presiding. The president was clueless. No one held accountable
  • Benghazi: Four Americans killed in an assault described as the result of a viral video. This was proved to be a false narrative. This was in fact, a planned act of terror. The president was clueless. No one even knows where he was as this went down. No one held accountable
  • “At this point, what difference does it make?” Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State
  • The IRS targeting of conservative groups and individuals. No one held accountable, Lois Lerner is on paid vacation and has refused to testify. The president was clueless. No one held accountable
  • Hillary using a private server for correspondence during her term as Secretary of State against the orders of the president. She thought “it would be more convenient…” Though the records were due when she left office, they were not submitted, subpoenas were issued, which she ignored for two years. Finally, she released 30,000 of some 60,000 alleged emails then she deleted the rest of the emails and will NOT turn over the server for investigation.