Author Archives: LSAConnect

The end of the Bull Market is being declared by many experts.  In the upper chart in December of 1982 the 10 year treasury was 16%.  The 10 year treasury was 1.65 earlier this year and is currently around 2.20%.   … Continue reading →

In a shortened holiday week, only a few memorable economic releases were featured. (-) Consumer spending for April was weaker than expected, falling -0.2% versus an anticipated flat reading and March growth was revised downward a tenth.  Sales as gas … Continue reading →

Labor Markets (+) The initial jobless claims number after seasonal adjustment was 340,000 in the week ending May 18, slightly lower than the expected 345,000.  Filing for first-time unemployment insurance benefits fell by 31,000 compared to the same time last … Continue reading →

  May’s Conference Board Consumer Confidence report is the latest piece of data to suggest that recent months have seen a significant strengthening of the US economic cycle and we are unsurprised that the strong rebound in housing, together with … Continue reading →

Economic Update (+) Retail sales came in quite a bit better than expected for April, with a slight gain of +0.1% for the month relative to a forecasted decline of -0.3%.  In addition, February and March sales were revised upward … Continue reading →

So much economic data was packed into the previous week, last week appeared quite light by comparison. (+) The Federal Reserve’s Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, which polls 68 U.S. banks and 21 domestic branches of foreign banks, has tended … Continue reading →

It was a busy week from an economic standpoint. (+) The ISM index for April was a bit better than expected, despite a decline from March’s 51.3 to 50.7 (consensus called for 50.5).  The employment component fell 4 points; however, … Continue reading →

  April’s Non-Farm Payroll report is a solid set of data that should go a long way to correcting the unnecessary angst caused by the March report, not least since that month’s data has now been revised up strongly from … Continue reading →

Today, as expected, the Fed Open Market Committee kept the Fed Funds rate on hold (target of 0.00% to 0.25%) and continued their bond-buying program of Treasury and MBS debt on the order of $85 billion a month, although it … Continue reading →