Chad Hudson

Contributor since: 26 Feb 2010

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• Are Retail Sales Sailing Away?

  Published 15 May 2003 | viewed 2,826 times

  (UNEDITED) April retail sales were weaker than economists expected. The Commerce Department's monthly report showed April sales declined 0.1%, while retail sales excluding autos fell…

• Squeeeeez

  Published 08 May 2003 | viewed 2,704 times

  The current labor market conditions are probably the weakest factor for a budding economic recovery. The number of workers on nonfarm payrolls peaked in March…

• Confidence Abounds

  Published 01 May 2003 | viewed 2,650 times

  (UNEDITED) After the war in Iraq drew to a close, there was little doubt that confidence would rebound. On Monday, the UBS Index of Investor…

• More Earnings

  Published 24 April 2003 | viewed 2,922 times

  (UNEDITED) Earnings reports continue to poor in and at first glance, earnings appear to be okay. Earnings are nothing spectacular and the quality is a…

• General Mortgage Corporation

  Published 17 April 2003 | viewed 3,196 times

  (UNEDITED) Investors have clearly turned their focus on earnings this week. While it is too early to call a trend, it appears first quarter earnings…

• Time To Refocus On The Economy

  Published 10 April 2003 | viewed 2,723 times

  (UNEDITED) The war in Iraq appears to be starting to wrap up. While there is obviously more work for our soldiers, the "liberation" of Baghdad…

• Stock Market Takes a Back Seat

  Published 26 March 2003 | viewed 2,846 times

  (UNEDITED) A lot has happened in a week. The bombing of Iraq started just as I was finishing up last week's article. During the rest…

• Who Knows What the Economy Do

  Published 19 March 2003 | viewed 2,870 times

  (UNEDITED) With military operations commencing, attention will be focused on Iraq. The war adds complexity in analyzing the economy. The consensus thinks a quick victory…

• Consumers Have to Slow Down

  Published 13 March 2003 | viewed 2,947 times

  The latest survey from the Cambridge Consumer Credit Index on consumer credit card use was sensationalized, even by them. One its homepage, www.cambridgeconsumerindex.com, there is…

• Trending Below 16 Million

  Published 06 March 2003 | viewed 3,360 times

  (UNEDITED) February auto sales fell 7% from last years pace to 15.4 million units as increased incentives failed to drive sales. It is becoming very apparent…

• No Confidence

  Published 26 February 2003 | viewed 3,153 times

  (UNEDITED) Consumer confidence plummeted in February according to the latest survey by the Conference Board. Along with the headline number, almost every component of the…

• Round and Round

  Published 12 February 2003 | viewed 2,758 times

  (UNEDITED) Last week's employment report from the Department of Labor showing an increase of 143,000 jobs shocked most economists. However, the majority of the jobs…

• What are Hedge Funds Hedging?

  Published 19 February 2003 | viewed 4,901 times

  (UNEDITED) Last week, I attended the charity dinner Hedge Funds Care in Dallas. I was amazed at the turnout, over 400 hedge fund managers and…

• When Hogs Land

  Published 05 February 2003 | viewed 3,356 times

  (UNEDITED) I received a lot of requests to analyze companies that would be beyond the scope of what I am trying to do. Amazon proves…

• Is Iraq Slowing Down the Economy?

  Published 29 January 2003 | viewed 3,041 times

  (UNEDITED) Today, the Federal Reserve Board left interest rates unchanged at 1.25%, surprising only two out of the 88 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The Fed…

• Refi, Part 2

  Published 23 January 2003 | viewed 3,509 times

  (UNEDITED) Last week's The Monthly Payment Economy garnered enough feedback to discuss some of the issues raised. First, I need to first point out that…

• The Monthly Payment Economy

  Published 15 January 2003 | viewed 3,261 times

  (UNEDITED) The US economy is based on monthly payments. Today's consumers focus on what the monthly payment is and not the total price paid. While…

• Can Businesses Shoulder The Economy?

  Published 08 January 2003 | viewed 2,630 times

  (UNEDITED) Wall Street strategists are systematically forecasting a strengthening economy for 2003. The party line calls for business spending to pick up while the consumer…

• Where is Santa Claus?

  Published 19 December 2002 | viewed 3,186 times

  In what is turning into a weekly occurrence, Wal-Mart along with Federated announced that their sales were on the low end of plan. This week,…

• Optimistic Managers Still Not Hiring

  Published 11 December 2002 | viewed 2,884 times

  (UNEDITED) Retailers reported weak results for the last week. The weekly Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi retail survey reported that sales fell 2.3% during the first week…