Retail sales plunge 16.4% in April
U.S. retail sales fell 16.4% in April from March levels, the Commerce Department reported today. March itself had seen an 8.3% month to month drop. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg were looking for a 12% decline. In a separate report from the Federal Reserve today...
Examples of countries that re-opened and are now headed back into lockdown aren’t reassuring for U.S. experience
Yesterday Lebanon became the latest country to reimpose social distancing restrictions after easing those measures just two weeks ago when it looked like the spread of the virus was under control. Iran has ordered a county in the southwest to reimpose a lockdown. Iran...
I understand why stocks went up in the face of 20.5 million lost jobs–I just don’t agree
Today the Labor Department reported that the economy lost 20.5 million jobs in April. And yet stocks strongly rallied. The Standard & Poor's 500 closed up 1.69% today, May 8. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher by 1.91%. The NASDAQ Composite gained 1.58%....
Trick or Trend: If states botch the coronavirus “re-opening,” how long before we see a spike in cases?
Our regular (or occasional or perhaps occasionally regular) Friday series (actually running on Saturday this week) Trick or Trend looks at what might (or might not) be emerging investible trends. Exclusively on JAM. This post won't run anywhere else. Ever. On Friday,...Download Jim’s eBook for Free
