Here are a few thoughts about some of the economic news that’s been coming in over the last few weeks.
Category Archives: recession
Inverted yield curve edges closer
If you haven’t been worrying about the possibility of an inverted yield curve, now might be a good time to start.
Gasoline prices down
Gas prices have dropped a lot, and further declines are in sight. What’s that mean for fuel demand and the overall economy?
Latest employment statistics: the clear thing is that it’s not at all clear
Last week’s GDP statistics and this week’s productivity data gave us something to cheer about. Friday’s employment figures do not.
Autos continue to tank
The worst October for U.S. auto sales in the last 13 years, it was.
New GDP data and recession probabilities
The Bureau of Economic Analysis yesterday released its advance estimates for the third quarter, reporting real GDP grew at an annual rate of 3.8%.
Ford joins the club
Having commented on a number of occasions about General Motors’ woes, and striving to be an Equal Opportunity PunditTM, it’s only fair to give credit where credit is due. Ford this week showed that it can compete with the best of them in terms of losing money,
posting a loss on its North American operations of $1.2 billion for the third quarter and $2.4 billion over the last 15 months. I’m not sure what advice to give Ford. But here’s what I think we might expect from U.S. policy makers.
GM losses and other economic news
No matter how amazing your accomplishments, it’s always nice to try to set your goals even higher. I was pretty impressed when General Motors managed to lose $1.2 billion on its North American operations in the second quarter of this year. But yesterday GM announced it had outdone even this, losing $1.6 billion on its North American operations in the third quarter.
Inflation’s back?
Does today’s CPI release indicate that inflation has returned?
Stagflation
Do recent energy shocks mean we might see a replay of the 1970’s stagflation? I believe not, and here’s why.