The table below itemizes the major events and analysis this week. The full review article is USA High Labor Cost Not Primary Reason For Jobs Export.
Weekly Economic Release Scorecard:
Item | Headline | Analysis |
January Balance of Trade |
Grew $2.3 billion |
Trade balance is currently trending lower |
December Wholesale Sales |
Up 0.4% |
Historical high for Decembers |
William Black: How Wallison is Blind to Accounting Control Fraud | Deregulation, desupervision and de facto decriminalization drove accounting fraud | |
January Diesel Consumption |
Off 0.3% |
Blame it on the weather |
Mortgage Applications down |
This statistic is Irrelevant – there a lot of cash home purchases |
|
Exporting Jobs |
Explores relationship between goods trade import & jobs growth |
|
2010 Rail traffic |
Up 8.0% |
Will growth continue into 2011? |
January Small Business Sentiment |
Up 1.5 points |
Small Business optimism growing fast then consumer optimism |
December JOLTS |
Hiring and Separations are equal |
|
Mortgage Defaults |
Increase consumer spending? |
|
December Consumer Credit |
Up 2.5% |
Improved yes MoM – but below “normal” December rises. |
Income Distribution |
Destabilizing and may have been a factor in the lead up to the Great Recession |
|
China’s 2010 GDP |
Up 10.3% |
When will China be the largest economy? |
Opinion: China Currency Manipulation |
Michael Pettis explores what is good and bad for China and the USA |
|
Opinion: Investor vs Working Class |
Derryl Hermanutz says you need a strong natural resource sector. |