Archive for economy
Media and Market Overreact As Usual to Weaker Housing Data
The mainstream financial media breathlessly proclaimed the worst housing data in x months this morning, on the release of the Commerce Department’s monthly new home sales data. I won’t go… Read more
Bernanke Successfully Re-Inflating Housing, Unbeknownst To Shiller
Adapted from the Wall Street Examiner. There were two major housing data releases today. One of them is important. The other was a misleading misdirection play, as it usually is. Due to its… Read more
Builder Indexes Down In April, But Trend Is Still Up
The dark and dirty job of pointing out that the NAHB Housing Market Index present conditions index is up 11 points versus last April and traffic is up 5 points falls to me, I guess. The mainstream… Read more
ISM in Wonderland Media Reporting Versus Reality–Which Do You Prefer?
Originally posted at the Wall Street Examiner. The big economic news story on Monday was the ISM Purchasing Managers Index. The headline number was only mildly positive, but it was enough so that… Read more
HARP 2.0 Refinance – “Responsible” Homeowners Get Their Reward
In November 2011 the Obama administration announced an overhaul on the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). Much needed and anticipated, HARP Refinance 2.0 stands to provide relief to a LOT… Read more
CoreLogic Data Shows House Price Declines Slowing
CoreLogic’s data for January closed house sales (mostly November contracts) shows a year over year decline of 3.1% nationally. the month to month decline was 1%. However, the 12 month rate of… Read more
Deconstructing The “Massive Beat” in Employment Data
The headlines are blaring of a massive surge in January employment that blew away analysts expectations. Frankly, I find it hard to believe that any analysts would not have expected this “news.”… Read more
IN CASE OF SHILLER, BREAK (Out This Article)
The Case Shiller housing price index was released this morning and, as usual, it’s getting lots of media attention. I have no problem with that, except for one minor detail. It is a worthless and… Read more
Taking a Closer Look at Mixed Signals
This post is contributed by the Consumer Metrics Institute. For those of us who track the macro-econometric behavior of consumers, the past six or seven months have been (at best) challenging…. Read more
BEA Adjusts Second Quarter GDP Growth Back Upward
This article has been contributed by the Consumer Metrics Institute. The Bureau of Economic Analysis’s (BEA) third estimate of second quarter 2011 U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was reported to… Read more
