Mike Shedlock

Contributor since: 26 Feb 2010

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• Retail Sales Rise Thanks to Autos; Industrial Production Sinks Thanks to Autos; Last Hurrah for Autos?

  Published 15 September 2015 | viewed 0 times

  An interesting divergence in auto production and sales came out in separate reports today. Let's start with sales. Retail Sales Rise Thanks to Autos The…

• Illinois Halts Payments to Dentists, Threatens to Stop All Health Insurance Payments

  Published 14 September 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Illinois Threatens to Halt All Health Insurance Payments Unpaid bills in Illinois now stand at $8.5 billion. Some project the total will reach an all-time…

• European Border Controls Return; Is the Schengen Free Movement Treaty Dead?

  Published 14 September 2015 | viewed 0 times

  The Schengen Agreement represents a territory in Europe where the free movement of persons is guaranteed. 26 nations signed the treaty. The signatory nations abolished…

• What the Hell is the US Mission in Syria? Perverse Wisdom

  Published 12 September 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Now that the US has destabilized Iraq and Syria, and a four-way battle over both countries is underway, I have a simple question: What the…

• Apocalypse Illinois: IOUs Projected to Hit $10.5 Billion, $163 Billion Total Accumulated Liabilities

  Published 12 September 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Flat Out Broke Illinois is in serious fiscal trouble. Unpaid bills will hit about $10.5 billion later this year, counting unpaid lotto winners and state…

• CME Fedwatch and Bloomberg Rate Hike Odds Still Wrong; Deflationary Bust Coming

  Published 11 September 2015 | viewed 0 times

  As of September 10, the CME has the odds of a September hike by the Fed at 24%. Bloomberg says the probability of a move…

• Cross-Border Deflation: US Export Prices Collapse Most Since July 2009; How Damaging is Price Deflation?

  Published 10 September 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Export Prices Collapse Most Since July 2009 Today's Import/Export report will have alarm bells ringing in the heads of various Fed members. Month over month,…

• China PPI Declines 42nd Consecutive Month; Banks Struggle to Contain Devaluation Fallout; More Capital Controls

  Published 10 September 2015 | viewed 0 times

  China Deflation Fears Grow Bad news stories continue in China today with reports of more capital controls, devaluation fallout, and another drop in the Producer…

• Tracking 'Emailgate' and 'Apologygate'; Clinton's Half-Baked Apology; Lightning Strikes Twice

  Published 09 September 2015 | viewed 0 times

  In the wake of major flip-flop by Hillary Clinton as to whether she would or would not issue an apology over "Emailgate", I thought it…

• Thinking of Quitting Your Job? Wage Growth vs. Quit Rates

  Published 08 September 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Looking for Greener Pastures? A Chicago Fed report investigates Job Switching and Wage Growth. People generally switch jobs by quitting (rather than losing) their previous…

• Huge Trade in Fake Syrian Passports; Start of 'Real Exodus'; 6.5 Million Displaced; 'Everyone Wants Out'

  Published 08 September 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Burgeoning Trade in Fake and Stolen Syrian Passports For those hoping to leave from wherever to EU countries, the passport of choice is Syrian. Preferential…

• Should We Change the Name 'Labor Day' to 'Robot Day'?

  Published 07 September 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Happy Labor Day! Here's the question of the day, on this Labor Day weekend: Will a robotic economy do away with human work? That's what…

• Establishment Survey +173K Jobs, Private Jobs +140,000; Unemployment Rate 5.1%

  Published 04 September 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Initial Reaction The establishment survey came in a weaker than expected 173,000 job. The Bloomberg Consensus estimate was 223,000 jobs. However, the preceding two months…

• Interest Rates and Bond Yields: Where are They Headed? September Hike Ideal? Is the Bond Bull Market Over?

  Published 03 September 2015 | viewed 0 times

  With all the chatter about whether the Fed will hike on September 17 or not, let's do an interest rate and bond yield recap of…

• Canada in Recession with Two Consecutive Quarters of Negative Growth

  Published 02 September 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Yesterday, Yahoo!News reported Canada Officially Enters Recession. Reeling from low oil prices, Canada fell into a recession in the first half of the year, government…

• Fed Apologist Ritholtz Interviews Fed Apologist McCulley

  Published 02 September 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Bloomberg columnist Barry Ritholtz interviewed Paul McCulley, former chief economist at PIMCO, and often mentioned FOMC candidate on the Fed's performance. The Podcast is over…

• Investigating Consumer Confidence: 3-Month Low? 10-Month Low? Near Record High?

  Published 01 September 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Last week, three different measures of consumer confidence came out: University of Michigan: Consumer Sentiment Conference Board: Consumer Confidence Level Gallup: Economic Confidence Index Claim…

• Witch Hunt Victim 'Confesses': Word Police in China vs. Word Police in US

  Published 31 August 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Witch Hunt Review As I noted earlier today China Starts Witch Hunt for Those Obstructing Government Efforts to Prop Up Stocks. Public Confession It took…

• Imagination Sets In

  Published 29 August 2015 | viewed 0 times

  One of my constant themes over the past few years is the underfunding of state and local pension plans. Illinois is particularly bad, but let's…

• Fed Queen Race: Personal Income Rises 0.4% as Expected; Good for Rate Hikes? GDP?

  Published 28 August 2015 | viewed 0 times

  Personal income for July rose as expected in today's Personal Income and Outlays report. Consumer spending rose nearly as expected, led of course by auto…