A couple of weeks ago we received the encouraging news that retail sales for both January and February were 1.8% above December. On Monday the National Association of Realtors reported that February sales of existing homes were 5.1% above January levels on a seasonally adjusted basis. Today the Census Bureau reported that new orders for manufactured durable goods rose 3.4% in February, with new orders for nondefense capital goods up 7.4%. And also today the Census Bureau reported that new home sales in February were up 4.7% (on a seasonally adjusted basis) relative to January. Is the tide starting to turn?
Author Archives: James_Hamilton
The first votes are in
The Federal Reserve can’t be entirely pleased with markets’ reaction to its announcement on Wednesday of quantitative goals for purchases of long-term assets.
2009 NCAA Bracket: Round 1
Congratulations to J. Graham, who successfully predicted 7 of the 10 NCAA round 1 upsets to lead the
2009 NCAA Bracket Econbrowser Challenge and come in ahead of 99.9% of the global ESPN entries. The future for Graham 1 does not look so bright, however, since Wakeforest’s first-round loss blew a pretty big hole in the rest of that nice bracket.
Quantitative easing
The U.S. Federal Reserve yesterday finally took the step many of us had been urging for some time.
2009 NCAA Bracket Econbrowser Challenge
OK, I said I wouldn’t give you any hints, but decided to pass one along anyway. Here are President Obama’s picks.
AIG outrage
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (hat tip: LA Times) asserted that on Friday insurance company AIG, recipient so far of perhaps $170 billion in bailout assistance, distributed over $160 million in “retention payments to members of its Financial Products Subsidiary.” These payments apparently included “retention” payments of over $1 million each to eleven individuals who are no longer working at AIG.
It’s tournament time!
I know, you’ve been regretting all year that you didn’t get a chance to enter the the 2008 NCAA Bracket Econbrowser Challenge. Well guess what? Here it is March of 2009 and you have a brand new chance!
What will recovery look like?
When good news comes, what should we expect to see?
Moral hazard and AIG
We are now suffering the consequences of one of the most spectacular financial miscalculations in history, after investors around the world discovered that trillions of dollars invested in securities derived from U.S. home mortgages were far riskier than they had originally believed.
Update on the auto sector
Detroit is still down, and the count begins on whether that means out.