22 Oct 2004

Posted at 16:18h in The Friday Brief by
Aside from the ugliest political climate in recent American history, inflation worries of are beginning to rival those of oil concerns among those who are paid to prognosticate and pontificate.  The Consumer Price Index with volatile food and energy removed from the calculations was three times higher in September than in August.  The year-over-year measure was up 2.0%.  Record high oil prices are working their way into the prices of more goods and services.  The longer they remain high the more damage they can do.  Higher gasoline prices are almost a given at this point. 

08 Oct 2004

Posted at 16:23h in The Friday Brief by
Is it just me or do we all seem more pessimistic than usual these days?  The optimism over the economy back in the early summer, somewhat reinvigorated by the optimistic tones of the two Presidential conventions, now seems to be giving in to a dark and mean time.  Granted, we are amidst an emotional crescendo in the final weeks of a contentious and dirty political race.  But what will be the ultimate cost?  Will optimism return after the election?  If not, what of the economy?

01 Oct 2004

Posted at 16:30h in The Friday Brief by
Good riddance to the third calendar quarter which ended yesterday with the S&P 500 down .70% and the NASDAQ down 7.24%.  The worst of the declines came in July and were caused in part by rising crude oil prices as well as disruptions caused by four major hurricanes in the South and East.  Investors spent all of July and half of August ratcheting down their expectations for growth; as car sales, home sales, consumer confidence, and consumer spending all weakened. 

24 Sep 2004

Posted at 15:58h in The Friday Brief by
This week’s batch of economic news continued mixed as it has been for the last few weeks.  A clearly good signal came today though, in the government’s report of Durable Goods Orders.  It showed that the nation’s manufacturing economy is gaining strength.  With the volatile transportation segment removed, durable goods increased a whopping 2.3%, almost tripling economists’ estimates for the month.  Manufacturing accounts for a third of the U.S. economy and remains the “engine of the global economy,” according to Bloomberg News.  Our manufacturing segment alone exceeds the individual gross domestic product of all but four nations: the U.K., Germany, Japan, and the U.S.  American factories shipped more than half of the world’s global exports in 2003.