Chad Hudson

Contributor since: 26 Feb 2010

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• Economists Must Live on Communes

  Published 19 April 2007 | viewed 4,031 times

  Economic data released over the past week was much friendlier to those hoping for the Fed to start easing. The bond market cheered the March…

• Inflation Remains a Concern

  Published 12 April 2007 | viewed 9,745 times

  Last week, the Labor Department reported that 180,000 jobs were created in March, which was significantly more than the 130,000 economists forecasted. Additionally, the revisions…

• The S-word Has Started Popping Up

  Published 05 April 2007 | viewed 7,078 times

  Economic growth continued to show signs of moderating this week. The ISM manufacturing index fell 1.4 points to 50.9 in March. There has been a…

• Spring Doesn't Bloom for Homebuilders

  Published 29 March 2007 | viewed 4,440 times

  Evidence continued to pile up that the housing sector remains in turmoil. There was a brief reprieve last week as the National Association of Realtors…

• Economic Growth Appears Vulnerable

  Published 08 March 2007 | viewed 3,486 times

  Almost all the S&P 500 companies have reported fourth quarter earnings and the tally now shows earnings increased 11.7%. While this was higher than estimates…

• Inflation Concerns Return

  Published 23 February 2007 | viewed 3,452 times

  FOMC minutes for the January meeting were released on Wednesday. Inflation was cited as the "predominant concern." The Fed noted that it "did not yet…

• Manufacturing Starts to Slow Along with Earnings

  Published 16 February 2007 | viewed 3,553 times

  Recent economic data along with corporate results have signaled that economic activity was more robust in December than previously reported, but has waned since the…

• Earnings Start to Slump

  Published 02 February 2007 | viewed 2,878 times

  Fourth quarter earnings are not as rosy as they have been over the past several quarters. Just over half of the 500 companies in the…

• Earnings Growth Decelerates

  Published 19 January 2007 | viewed 3,143 times

  Earnings season is upon us once again. Over the past two weeks, analysts have lowered their estimates for fourth quarter earnings growth. Analysts now forecast…

• Consumers Remain Resilient

  Published 17 November 2006 | viewed 3,290 times

  Last week, investors became very cautious of retail stocks after the majority of retailers reported lackluster October results. These concerns were short-lived as retailers started…

• Do Retail Sales Point to a Slowdown?

  Published 10 November 2006 | viewed 3,384 times

  Early last week, Wal-Mart announced that its same store sales increased 0.5% in October, which was less than the 1.5% gain analysts were expecting. This…

• Manufacturing Slows, Earnings Remain Strong

  Published 26 October 2006 | viewed 2,741 times

  There have been some indications that economic growth has sputtered over the past several months. Over the summer, consumers balked as energy prices soared. Just…

• Earnings Point to Stronger Growth

  Published 20 October 2006 | viewed 4,037 times

  Consumer prices dropped 0.5% in September, mostly due to a 7.2% decline in energy prices. While lower energy prices helped tame the headline number, the…

• Housing Remains Under Pressure

  Published 29 September 2006 | viewed 3,975 times

  Existing home sales dropped slightly in August to a 6.3 million unit annualized pace. The median price dropped to $225,000, 1.7% less than last year.…

• Lower Energy Prices Energize Investors

  Published 14 September 2006 | viewed 3,407 times

  Corporate earnings have been increasing at a double-digit rate over the past twelve quarters. This has bolstered corporate balance sheets and companies have not been…

• Close Call

  Published 31 August 2006 | viewed 4,796 times

  The minutes of the August FOMC meeting were released on Tuesday. The minutes revealed that the decision to "keep policy unchanged at this meeting was…

• Housing Weighs on the Economy

  Published 25 August 2006 | viewed 3,374 times

  There was little surprise that the housing market remained weak in July. Existing homes sales fell 4% from June to an annual rate of 6.33…

• Inflation Fears Slip

  Published 19 August 2006 | viewed 2,960 times

  Inflation fears eased after the Labor Department reported that producer prices increased only 0.1% in July. Economists were expecting an increase of 0.4%. Additionally, the…

• Homebuilders Start Fessing Up

  Published 27 July 2006 | viewed 4,652 times

  Corporate earnings have continued to exceed analysts' expectations. With just over half of the companies in the S&P 500 having reported second quarter earnings, 69%…

• Consumers are Starting to Look Tired

  Published 13 July 2006 | viewed 4,790 times

  The employment report released last Friday gave economists reason to forecast that the Fed will stop after one more hike. After the ADP report caused…