Monday, December 20, 2010

THE PROS AND CONS OF THE RECENT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

Home ? Most Recent Stories

20 December 2010 by TPC 0 Comments

There have been many important economic developments in recent months – many good and fewer bad.? In a recent research note Northern Trust nicely summarized the positive and negative developments in the last few months:

Positive developments:

  • Initial jobless claims show a distinct downward trend
  • Payroll employment continues to advance, albeit slower
  • Retails sales show widespread gains in November and the underlying trend is firming up
  • Net credit has risen in November, the third increase in the last five months
  • Higher Treasury market yields are a vote of confidence about the economy
  • Factory production has risen at a noticeable pace. Regional factory surveys in December were upbeat
  • Housing starts and permits for new single-family homes rose in November.
  • October Pending Home Sales Index posted a strong increase
  • The positive trend of the Index of Leading Economic Indicators supports forecasts of continued economic growth
  • The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index rose in the early-December survey.


Negative developments:

  • The 9.8% unemployment rate is a major source of concern for policymakers
  • Sales of homes, both existing and new, declined in October and the elevated level of inventories combined with pressures from home foreclosures is holding down home prices
  • Auto sales held steady in November, after increasing in three out of the four months ended October

Source: Northern Trust

——————————————————————————————————————————————————

The content on this site is provided as general information only and should not be taken as investment advice. All site content shall not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security or financial product, or to participate in any particular trading or investment strategy. The ideas expressed on this site are solely the opinions of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the opinions of firms affiliated with the author(s). The opinions of all guest authors or contributors can and will differ from those of Mr. Roche. These opinions do not necessarily represent the opinions or investment decisions of Mr. Roche. The author(s) may or may not have a position in any security referenced herein and may or may not seek to do business with one another or companies mentioned via this website. Any action that you take as a result of information or analysis on this site is ultimately your responsibility. Consult your investment adviser before making any investment decisions.

A brief note on comments – The increase in users in recent months has resulted in an increase in unproductive comments. Any user who engages in the use of racial epithets or uses the comment section as a place to insult other users will be banned from the site. The comment section is welcome to all readers who are interested in asking pertinent questions and/or engaging in thoughtful, intelligent, and productive debate. In short, just be nice. Thanks.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured site: So, Why is Wikileaks a Good Thing Again?.


View the original article here

No comments:

Post a Comment