Texas lost 6 people yesterday to as many as ten tornados that touched down – one being more than a mile wide according to spotters. The tornados touched down and ravaged small cities on the outskirts of Ft. Worth – heavily populated areas. It’s amazing that even with early warning, online real-time spotter tracking of [...]
Deutsche Post (the German Post Office) is a primary rival to UPS and FedEx throughout much of Europe – and it has come up with an interesting way to secure online ordering of merchandise. The company will install safety boxes at home to take advantage of a growing grocery, medical, and electronics online retail segment. [...]
We’ve written a lot about the weekly AAR carload report and the extensive studies conducted by many large analytical firms (JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, etc.) showing that there is approximately an 82% correlation between some of these metrics and general economic growth rates. Therefore, with that in mind, let’s take a look
Despite a general drop in crude oil prices, the price at the pump for gasoline is rising. The Energy Information Administration released its weekly fuel price report showing that across the country, prices are now higher than they were a week ago. Most prices are up about .07 cents on a national average and are [...]
A little something for everyone these days in the data. Today we get the news that inflation remains well under control at the same time that jobless claims rise for the first time in several months. Do these monthly stats really mean very much in the great scheme of things? Yes and no – the [...]
We heard a report today on copper and a debate of sorts with one analyst saying that the drop in copper is a sign that conditions in China (especially) are weaker than we thought. His counterpart believed that the strength of the dollar was the bigger culprit in copper prices. We’ve said to you [...]
The data that has been emerging from France is about as depressing as it gets and there are many in Europe who now believe that France will be the linchpin as far as recovery is concerned. If France is somehow able to overcome the gloom that has enveloped the economy there will be some hope [...]
If one was to have suggested that the US dollar would be considered a strong currency when the interest rate is zero, growth is an anemic 1.5% and the rate of unemployment is 7.5%, there would be many who would urge a serious examination of one’s sanity. It would seem that these conditions are the [...]
The headlines have been positively glowing and the stock market is in a state of euphoria. The unemployment rate is down to 7.5% and happy days are here again. Frankly, we kind of like being the buzz kill from time to time but there is ample reason to be less than impressed with the latest [...]
The Minneapolis Federal Reserve published a study that they did regarding the Bakken and its impact on districts as far away as Nebraska. We are going to highlight a series of charts that they included in the study. If you want the full study, you can get it here: Fedgazette Bakken Ripple Effect. The first thing [...]
