Producer Price Index Falls To -0.6% In February
Inflation? I would say no till further notice. PPI fell to -0.6% in February vs. -0.2 consensus and 1.4% in January. Producer margins? Squeezed. Chart 1. U.S. Producer Price Index
Archive for March, 2010
U.S. Housing Starts Declined 5.9% In February
U.S. housing starts came out at 575.000 vs. 565.000 consensus and 591.000 in January. Building permits in the same period fell 1.6% to 612.000. The weather certainly played a role here, but nevertheless the data coming out on housing isn’t good. Chart 1. U.S. Housing Starts Chart 2. U.S. Building Permits
“Exceptionally Low Federal Funds Rate For Extended Period” Encore
“Exceptionally Low Federal Funds Rate For Extended Period” still here; FED funds rate stays at 0%-0.25% in 9:1 vote with Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig voting again against. Economic activity picking up; high unemployment; business spending is recovering; housing relapse: Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in January suggests that economic […]
March NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Price Index Falls 2 Points
Another twist of bad news for U.S. housing. HMI came out at 17 vs. 15 in February. Both current and future components edged down. Chart 1. NAHB / Wells Fargo Housing Market Index
U.S. Industrial Production Rose 0.1% In February
U.S. industrial production rose 0.1% in February. The Consensus was at 0%, January reading at 0.9%. Capacity utilization rose from 72.6% in January to 72.7%; the consensus was at 72.4%. Chart 1. U.S. Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
New Week Intro March 15, 2010
Important U.S. earnings this week: Monday: Central Vermont Public Service (CV), 3Com Corporation (COMS), National Presto Industries (NPK), AAON (AAON), Williams-Sonoma (WSM) Tuesday: FactSet Research Systems (FDS), AAR (AIR), Discover Financial Services (DFS) Wednesday: CLARCOR (CLC), Herman Miller (MLHR), Nike (NKE), Tootsie Roll Industries (TR), Guess? (GES), Actuant Corporation (ATU) Thursday: GameStop (GME), Winnebago Industries […]
Tanker Weekly – 14 March, 2010
Baltic Dirty Tanker Index rose 5.2% last week while Baltic Clean Tanker Index rose o.3%. Demand picked up slightly, pushing the prices and demand slightly. Chart 1. Baltic Tanker Indexes Relative Performance Chart 2. Baltic Tanker Indexes
Dry Bulk Weekly – 14 March, 2010
Baltic dry index rose 8.1% in the last week. Capesize, Supramax and Handysize Index outperformed the BDI, Panamax Index underperformed. Rumors in the iron ore market continue; worlds largest iron ore producer Vale even thinking on abandoning yearly price fixing and selling iron ore on spot market. There is a great disparity between iron ore […]
China Will Follow It’s Own Path
Chinese Prime Minister Mr. Wen Jiabao delivered a pretty straight forward answer on the U.S. led calls for a yuan appreciation. China official stance is: Yuan is not undervalued; the calls for a Yuan appreciation are clear protectionist acts – they plan to support China export led growth; China is concerned about its U.S. dollar […]
Retail Sales Positive Surprise (I’ve Been Told So…)
Just for the record retail sales rose 0.3% in February (courtesy of weather adjustment; without that we would have -0.1%) . The consensus was at -0.2%, January reading at 0.5%. Autos taken out, the figure was 0.8%; the consensus was at 0%; prior reading at 0.6%. Chart 1. U.S. Retail sales
University of Michigan/Reuters Consumer Sentiment For March Edges Down
Consumer sentiment for March came out at 72.5 vs. 74 consensus and 73.6 prior reading. Chart 1. University of Michigan/Reuters Consumer Sentiment
U.S. Natural Gas Weekly – 11 March 2010
Working gas in storage fell 111 Bcf from the previous week. Chart 1. Natural Gas Futures Chart 2. Working Gas in Underground Storage Compared with 5-year Range
Initial Jobless Claims Fall 7.000
Initial jobless claims fell 7.000 to 462.000. The consensus was at 460.000. Chart 1. Initial Jobless Claims
China Inflation Accelerates in February
China consumer prices rose 2.7% in February vs. consensus of 2.5% and 1.5% in January. In the same time China producer prices rose 5.4% vs. consensus of 5.1% and 4.3% in January. This obviously is starting to represent a problem for The Peoples Bank of China as CPI this high brings real interest rates to […]
U.S. Petroleum Weekly – 10 March 2010
Crude oil stocks rose 1.4 million barrels for week ending 5 March; Gasoline stocks fell for 3 million barrels; Distillate stocks decreased 2.2 million barrels; Propane/propylene stocks fell 1.5 million barrels; Other oils were flat; Total crude oil and petroleum stocks fell 5.3 million barrels. Refinery utilization fell from 81.9% to 80.7%. Crude oil and […]