Don’t read too much into any single half-decade of economic news.

Orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods unexpectedly fell in December along with a gauge of planned business spending, giving a a reality check to a largely improving U.S. economic outlook.

It is like a scene from the Bill Murray movie, Groundhog Day. Every month, the same thing happens: world markets almost come to a standstill awaiting word from the Federal Reserve on when tapering of U.S. monetary stimulus will begin.

Good and Bad News Affects Fixed Income (Reuters) Fixed income investors awoke to both good news and bad news this morning — unfortunately both came from the same economic data. First, the good news: the average price for U.S. homes | Read More »

I headline this as a “shock” report with some irony, because that’s how the media is reporting it (“But… but… the President said we’re on the right track to a strong recovery!”)  In fact, most serious economists were predicting a | Read More »