Just a happy birthday to my oldest sister Ferne, lost her two years ago. She taught me to appreciate art, nature, style, rock n’ roll music and life…. Love you kid. I had a great time ... at the Precision Machined Products Association annual meeting this week and late last in San Diego. Our get [...]
declines in production related indicators The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) decreased to -0.53 in April from -0.23 in March. The index’s 3 month moving average CFNAI-A3 ticked up to -0.04 in April from -0.05 in March. April’s CFNAI-MA3 suggests that growth in national economic activity was very near its historical trend. The economic [...]
US raw steel production inched up 0.4 percent last week as mills operated at an annual capability utilization rate (ACUR) of 77.9 percent. In the corresponding week last year mills operated at an ACUR of 80.9 percent. On the year mills have operated at an ACUR of 76.2 percent compared to the same period last [...]
Well, we all survived the weekend without the massive layoffs and cuts in service which had been threatened by the president, the media and the rest of his cohorts. In fact, front page of the Wall Street Journal on Monday 3/4/13 had an article titled “Rhetoric Cools on Near-Term Pain of Cuts”. The article goes [...]
On 2/21 the Conference Board Index of Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) was reported to have risen 0.2 percent in January, to 94.1 (2004 = 100), following a 0.5 percent increase in December and no change in November. Says Ataman Ozyildirim, an economist at the Conference Board, “The US LEI rose again in January pointing to [...]
It is becoming increasingly clear that Congress will not act to stop the sequester spending cuts from taking place. The cuts will take place between March 1 and September 30, the last day of the government’s fiscal year. Split evenly between defense spending and spending for other discretionary programs: $85 billion dollars. I do not [...]