ECONOMICS

After June's Boeing-driven collapse, US Durable Goods Orders were expected to rebound strongly in July (preliminary data released today) and they did – jumping 9.9% MoM (vs +5.0% exp) from June's 6.9% MoM plunge. That is the biggest MoM jump in orders since July 2020's post-COVID lockdown bounce…

Source: Bloomberg

However, ex-Transports, orders dropped 0.2% MoM (worse than the 0.1% decline expected) and leaving core orders up just 0.6% YoY… (more…)

Authored by Gail Tverberg via Our Finite World,

Today’s economy is like that of the late 1920s…

Today, there is great wage and wealth disparity, just as there was in the late 1920s. Recent energy consumption growth has been low, just as it was in the 1920s. A significant difference today is that the debt level of the US government is already at an extraordinarily high level. Adding more debt now is fraught with peril.

Figure 1. US Gross Federal Debt as a percentage of (more…)

Via SchiffGold.com,

Just when you thought the headlines couldn’t seem more absurd, Swiss banking giant UBS has issued a warning that in the global battle against inflation, the worst enemy of central banks could be none other than pop star Taylor Swift.

The report could be seen as one part genuine economic analysis, one part marketing schtick for the UBS Arena.

This is the chosen venue for many huge events including Taylor Swift concerts and the MTV Music (more…)