07 Apr 2008

Posted at 16:08h in The Friday Brief by
“We are in a recession” according to Warren Buffett. “Across the board I am seeing a significant slowdown,” he said on CNBC television. Fed chair Ben Bernanke in his Senate testimony last week said that “the economic situation has become distinctly less favorable.''

04 Apr 2008

Posted at 15:11h in The Friday Brief by
Remember climbing a ladder for the first time and hearing the advice – don’t look down? Seems everybody looked down a couple of months ago and believed the worst. People seem to be frozen like deer in the headlights. In my conversations with friends and clients I hear that their businesses, some related to homebuilding and others completely unrelated, simply fell off the cliff a couple of months ago. While some can be explained by high fuel prices, poor exchange rates, and tight credit policies, the reasons are broader than the economic data. There seemed to be a psychological line that was crossed and people simply put on the brakes.

29 Feb 2008

Posted at 16:14h in The Friday Brief by
The economy’s momentum in the fourth quarter of last year came almost entirely from exports as domestic spending evaporated. Gross domestic product rose at a 0.6% annualized rate following a 4.9% gain in the third quarter according to the Commerce Department. The government reported today that consumer spending rose 0.4%. But that increase is mostly due to rising prices. The Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation climbed 0.3%, the most in four months.

22 Feb 2008

Posted at 16:32h in The Friday Brief by
Search for the bottom in the housing recession continues, leading indicators are falling, the auction market has dried up, Oil breaks $100, Gold is reaching new highs, and the job market is cooling. Unfortunately there is little evidence to support the thesis that we will miss a recession other than the continued strong momentum in Asia and theMiddle Eastmay pull us out of this dive with the help of lower rates and government stimuli.