I’m heading off to the NAPFA Practice Management & Investments Conference at the Brooklyn Marriott. I’m the luncheon speaker tomorrow (Wed). The topic: asset allocation. Strategy chatter on a full stomach. Is that wise? We’ll see. In any case, blogging will go dark for the next day or so, with a resumption of the usual fare on Thursday.
Meanwhile, I see that today’s S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices were up in August. “We see a modest glimmer of hope with these data,” David Blitzer of S&P said via the press release.

There’s no shortage of worrisome trends on the macro stage, but perhaps the most troubling is the trend in real (inflation-adjusted) hourly earnings and personal consumption expenditures. Both have been falling persistently on a year-over-year basis. Some economists see this as a dark sign for the business cycle. It’s also a test of Hayek’s idea that falling wages will plant the seeds of economic recovery. By that standard, macro salvation is coming.

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