Last week the U.S. economy finally recovered all the jobs lost in the worst recession since the Depression. Last month 138.5 million Americans were working, exceeding the 138.4 million working during December 2007, the first month of the recession. It…
I recently viewed a news report on the economic troubles in Europe. This report focused on Spain’s economy, how it’s housing market remained in steep decline, unemployment was 24%, close to 50% unemployment among youth, and how despite having above…
Unemployment is stubbornly high and the housing market is still a mess-we all know that. Despite these structural problems, the economy has emerged from the recession in 2008, and is growing again-just not as fast as any of us would like.…
Record home foreclosures, high unemployment, massive municipal defaults, unrest in Egypt, record federal budget deficits, European debt concerns, higher interest rates, and rising inflation in China and emerging markets. Is there enough for investors to worry about? Yes-and then some! There…
The recent mortgage foreclosure moratorium probably results in even more delays in cleaning up the millions of home foreclosures nationwide and means the return of a healthy real estate market is still years away. Jobless claims remain elevated, and unemployment…
We are in the middle of low volume summer trading in the stock market.After last quarter's pullback, stocks are beginning to gradually move higher again. Recent economic news shows an economy that is still struggling with high unemployment and a…
Consumer expectations for inflation have risen in June, causing some investors and policymakers to begin worrying about inflation again. Inflation expectations have risen to 3.1%, the highest level since last fall. We continue to think these inflation concerns are premature while…
The high levels of recent government spending and resulting huge budget deficits have stirred the inflation hawks in recent months. The "talking head" investment advice on television has been touting inflation protection in the form of traditional inflation protecting investments…
Before things can get better they have to stop getting worse. We have talked about some of the very early signs that the economy is starting to turn.We have also seen bond and credit markets improving from last fall. But…