What’s the difference between a bubble vs. a legitimate rise in prices? Fundamentals, or so the story goes.
Daily Archives: February 25, 2010
IS THIS REALLY JUST AN EXPENSIVE GAME OF MUSICAL CHAIRS?
The fiscal debacle in Greece is at least partly connected to minimizing (hiding?) deficits. In 2000 and 2000, Greece borrowed billions via currency swaps. But the fix was only temporary and the red ink has come back to haunt the country. (Gee, where have we heard this one before?)
CAN WE BELIEVE THE RISING TREND IN DURABLE GOODS ORDERS?
The labor market may be facing new challenges, but new orders for durable goods rose again last month. This leading indicator of future economic activity increased 3.0% in January, the Census Bureau reports this morning. That’s good news, of course, although we’re in no mood to celebrate, given the apparent reversal of fortunes in jobless claims, as we discussed in our previous post.
ANOTHER WARNING SIGN IN JOBLESS CLAIMS
Last week’s rise in new filings for jobless claims adds another data point to the case for thinking that the downtrend has hit a wall in this critical measure of the labor market’s trend.