Good article summarizing current economic trends:
“Current stock market action and the global financial system’s reliance on central bank support reminds me of rock legend Bachman Turner Overdrive’s 1974 hit “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet.”
…But here’s what we have seen in the last few days in spite of the massive ongoing global central bank intervention:
ISM manufacturing : 51.3, down 2.9 from February and missing expectations, now approaching the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction.
ISM services index : 54.4, down from February’s 56 and missing expectations of 55.8
Markit U.S. PMI : 54.6 in March, up from February’s 54.3 but missing estimate of 54.9
ADP employment : 158,000 jobs, down from 190,000/month average and February’s 237,000
Initial jobless claims : 385,000, week ending March 30, up from previous week’s 357,000 and higher than expectations
NFIB small-business report : Optimism index declines as NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg reports, ” For the sector that produces half the private GDP and employs half the private-sector workforce — the fact that they are not growing, not hiring, not borrowing and not expanding like they should be, is evidence enough that uncertainty is slowing the economy.”
….and the list goes on. See the whole article here: Bonds vs. stocks: only one can be right
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