Manufacturing Contracts

From the WSJ:Grim economic data Monday showed more pain for U.S. manufacturing and construction.The Institute for Supply Management, a key measure of U.S. manufacturing activity, said its overall index for last month moved to 36.2 from 38.9 in October and 43.5 in September. November's reading was the weakest since May 1982.Cliff Waldman, an economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI trade gr...

This Guys Worth $50 Million?

From the WSJ:Ford Motor Co. plans to tell Congress it is retooling itself to build small fuel-efficient cars and break from the past strategy of focusing mainly on large pick up trucks and sport-utility vehicles, and will cut the compensation package of Chief Executive Alan Mulally, as part of its bid to win support for a federal bail out of the Big Three auto makers, a person familiar with the...

Treasury Tuesdays

Prices have spiked above the upper trend lined of a year-long consolidation pattern. This indicates the credit crunch is still very much alive as traders seek-out investments that provide for a return of capital rather than a return on capital. While the interest rate on the 10 year is prohibitively low right now (2.72%) traders are still piling into the Treasury market.Notice the following on ...

Today’s Market

A combination of terrible economic reports and general concern about the length and breadth of the current downturn led to a big tumble today.Notice the following on the daily chart:-- Prices opened lower and then continued to drop-- The 84.50 level offered a ton of support to prices-- Once prices moved through the 84.50 level in a convincing fashion they tumbled on heavy volume-- Prices closed...

Recession Began in December 2007

From Bloomberg:The U.S. economy entered a recession a year ago this month, the panel that dates American business expansions said today. The declaration was made by the cycle-dating committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private, nonprofit group of economists based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The last time the U.S. was in a recession was from March through November 2001, acco...

Inflation, the Depression and Other Ruminations

There has been a lot of talk lately using the word "depression." I am in no way an expert on this event. But given the recent increase in the use of the word depression I think it would be a good idea to look at some of the economic items from that period.Let's start with inflation. Here is a chart from the St. Louis Federal Reserve that shows the year over year percentage change in inflation.C...

My Condolences To Calculated Risk

I just read that Tanta at CR died. I wanted to pass my deepest sympathies to CR.

Market Monday’s

First -- I had one hell of a time signing in today thanks to Google. Please boys -- get your act together on this one by tomorrow?Now -- on to the show.Click for a larger imageNotice the following on the yearly chart in daily increments:-- Prices were moving lower until September, but the rate of decline was far more gentle compared with the post-September situation-- Once prices made a move th...

Happy Thanksgiving

Mr$. Bonddad and I are in Cincinnati for the holidays. Therefore -- being the wonderful blog boss that I am -- I'm giving myself the rest of the week off. I'll be back on Monday, bright and early. In the meantime, here are the kids asking a very important question: "Can we have some turkey, too?"Everybody, please have a happy and safe holiday.BD

Wednesday Commodities Round-Up

Click for a larger imageNotice the following on the weekly chart:-- Prices have dropped by 50% or more over the last few months-- All the SMAs are moving lower-- The shorter SMAs are below the longer SMAs-- Prices are below all the SMAs-- Prices are at or near their lowest level in over three yearsBUT-- The MACD is oversold, and-- The RSI is oversoldClick for a larger imageNotice the following ...