It's nothing short of incredible. It's not enough to send me scurrying to raise my forecast for next year, but it's pointing toward considerable momentum going into the new year. It gives me more confidence we're going to be able to maintain strong growth in the first half. |
It's the early signs of some cooling in this super-heated market. Fewer people qualify for loans and sales at these prices. |
Nevertheless, money supply contractions are often harbingers of bad times ahead, and if this lasts much longer, people will get more concerned. |
One of these days, we're going to see an increase in non-farm payrolls for the manufacturing sector. |
One significant question mark was whether the recovery in manufacturing would be strong enough to generate the employment needed to sustain economic expansion. [Friday's report] is a strong indication we're finally getting that employment growth. |
Overall the 56.7 reading for the ISM index is consistent with (economic) growth in the first quarter running above 5.0 percent. |
Overall, durable orders need to be looked at on a trend basis, and even after the drop in orders other than transportation orders ... the capital good sector remains very healthy and will contribute solidly to growth throughout 2006. |
Overall, the data for the capital goods sector remains somewhat erratic, but the underlying trend remains upward. |
People are still planning to spend, and today's income numbers tell us that they have the wherewithal to do so. |
People don't seem to be so concerned that they're unwilling to commit future income to such purchases. The fact that people are willing to do that speaks much louder about consumer attitudes than what they tell some survey. |
Since the end of January, things seem to have hit a wall across a wide array of economic indicators. This confirms what all that anecdotal evidence and factual reports have been telling us. |
The bond market is noticing that the capacity usage rate is rising with this additional production, and to some people's minds that gets us nearer to the day of Fed tightening. |
The dollar's still strong against the Chinese currency and China continues to expand its capacity to flood the world with consumer goods. |
The Fed is on hold indefinitely. It doesn't mean they won't make another move this year, but there is too little information to make another rate move in September. |
The Fed is without question, especially in light of the behavior of the stock market, focused with laser-like scrutiny on consumer confidence. |