Highlights
- Retail Sales dropped in August: The 0.3 percent fall followed a 0.5 percent drop in July, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Excluding automobiles, purchases were down 0.7 percent, the most this year.
- Producer Prices: fell 0.9 percent, more than forecast, in August. So-called core producer prices, which strip out fuel and food costs, rose 0.2 percent.
- Seamus Smyth Economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.: ``By July, essentially all the rebates had already been distributed, and so were no longer providing support to incomes.'' In a note to clients on Sept. 2. ``Combined with weak job growth and tight credit, consumers had no way to fund additional consumption.''
- Ford Motor Co.'s Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally: said in a speech this week. ``I've never seen anything quite like it.'' ``Not only is the U.S. in a recession, but the rest of the world is slowing down,''
- Consumer spending: will stall from July to September, three months earlier than predicted last month, according to the median estimate of economists polled from Sept. 2 to Sept. 9. The slump will slow growth to less than half the prior quarter's pace.
Comments
White Christmas: While the Farmers Almanac is calling for a cold white Christmas, it doesn't look like we will have a green Christmas for retailers.
Deflation at the Wholesale Level: Yes, a .9 drop in the PPI August numbers appeared - - a nice start for what I believe will continue into the Winter of 2008.
Interest Rates: Look for World Wide interest rates (Including the US) to continue to sag lower due to falling International demand and De-Leveraging of International Banking & Institutional Finance Portfolios resulting in tighter credit constrains for business and consumers.
Housing Crisis: Near term look for more of the same; higher foreclosure numbers as banks learn how to process and liquidate properties quicker and prices to continue to erode. This is all part of the multi-year readjustment process.
Jim
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