Category Archives for "Economics"

What equity valuations might be trying to tell you!

Hang on, according to the ‘experts’, this wasn’t supposed to happen! Having been fed a diet of gloom by everyone from Hedgies (Bridgewater), Academics/Economists (Dartmouth/MITI/Krugman), Banks (Citi) and wealthy investors (Mark Cuban – see end for links) should Trump get elected, markets have done what they do best and confound the experts, with US equity […]

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Gartner Inc follow-up as US jobs data confirms softening trend for Info segment

Last month I flagged a warning on Gartner Inc.  Consensus forecasts for a sustained rate of revenue growth over the next two years are clearly wrong. The question is whether they are too high or too low. In the blog piece on the subject I highlighted the correlation of the group’s organic revenue record to […]

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If rates rise, it won’t have anything to do with the US jobs data

It’s the first Friday of the month again and I’ve woken to Punxsutawney Phil and predictions of imminent interest rate increases following the traditional release of the US non-farm payroll numbers; this time for November. Notwithstanding these are probably even less meaningful than normal given the Presidential elections at the beginning of the month it […]

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Seasonal adjustments salvage what would have been a dire October non-farm payroll number

Think +142k in October for Private sector jobs was poor? How would you feel about +37k then? Unlike in some countries, the US government would never stoop so low as bend some piece of economic data to gain a political advantage ahead of an election. The recovery in Q3 GDP to +2.9% (‘real’) trumpeted a […]

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US Agency revenue growth plummets in Q3 – the canary in the mine

With less than a week to go and Trump edging ahead in some polls, albeit possibly still behind with regards electoral college votes, there’s going to be some sweaty palms in financial markets. A month ago, a Clinton victory may have seemed like a slam dunk and indeed one bookie (Paddy Power Betfair) was reported […]

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US Q3 GDP bounce exaggerated by soyabeans and deflator

Q3 US GDP was “better than expected” at +2.9% and according to Capital Economics, “confirms that the economic recovery has regained some of the momentum lost with last year” and ..”As such leaves the Fed firmly on track to raise interest rates in December”   Well there you have it, the consensus view from economists! […]

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US reported Federal deficit of -$587bn dwarfed by cash deficit of over -$1.4tn

If you haven’t noticed, there is an entire industry of well funded professional spin doctors out there whose business is to present their clients performance in the very best possible light. Whether those clients are corporates trying to game an advantageous cost of capital or a Government claiming to be able to walk on economic […]

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September US non-farm payrolls fall short of expectations – again

The headline seemed so authoritative (“U.S. nonfarm payroll job growth seen pushing case for Fed hikes”) and coming from Reuters as well! http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-idUSKCN1270BP Unfortunately, notwithstanding coming off a weak August, September’s non-farm payroll additions of +156k (and +167k for the private sector) fell short of the +175k predicted from Reuters survey of economists. So does […]

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