A secular bear market is a long period in which stocks and the economy overall make little progress. There can be small bull runs within secular bear markets which are called cyclical bull markets. But they don’t run for great…
Fascinating article on the front page of today’s WSJ on the difference in jobless benefits and total wage tax burdens in Europe and the US: “US, Europe Are Ocean Apart On Human Toll Of Joblessness” (subscription required). In Europe, wage…
If the ballot measures fail and the recession does continue unabated into 2010, the budget gap could widen again into the $20 billion range. But the governor and legislative leaders may have fired all their political bullets in February, leaving them…
As a one man shop, I can’t cover every single copy or read every report. So what I try to do is look at bellwethers, company’s that cover a broad swath of an industry and that should give insight into the…
Family Dollar (FDO), a discount retailer, reported another superb quarter this morning. Same store sales were up 6.4% and net income up 33%. They increased their fiscal 2009 EPS forecast from $1.63-$1.81 (1/7/09) to $1.90-$2.00. Clearly their business is on…
The Boston Globe’s The Big Picture put up 35 scenes from the recession. Tells the story well…..
Red and Blue tribal pundits agree that economic recovery can only occur if private capital returns to the market. That’s swell, at least they agree on something. So why is our brain trust in Washington doing every conceivable thing to…
Federal Express (FDX) this morning announced fiscal year 3rd quarter earnings and what really stood out for me was a massive margin squeeze. Despite a 44% drop in fuel expenses from $980 million to $551 million in their core Express…
The rush to hoard cash and pinch pennies is understandable, given that some $13 trillion in net worth evaporated between mid-2007 and the end of 2008. But while it makes complete microeconomic sense for families and individual businesses, the spending…
Mr. Greenspan ought to have used the pages of the Journal to apologize to the nation. Instead, his piece will stand as a testament to his hubris, or perhaps his delusions. – Ian Shepherdson, Chief US Economist, High Frequency Economics…