After a bit of a lull in 2009, M&A activity–a gauge toward GDP growth–has begun to gain some momentum this year. Unsurprisingly, this uptick in M&A activity coincides with gains in business and professional services employment; a series that includes lawyers and bankers. M&A Activity vs. Business and Professional Services Employment The upward trend for […]
Archive:
March 2010
Sophia Drossos, the co-head of global FX strategy at Morgan Stanley, believes Canada will soon begin tightening rates based on the Central Bank’s inflationary concerns. Sophia said, “We’re looking for them to deliver 50 basis points rate hikes in the second quarter, and the market is slowly coming around to our point of view because the […]
Recently I have found plenty of enjoyment looking through old Popular Science magazines online. Today I came across an article from 1981 in which the author was very serious about a new service rolling out that would deliver data directly to your TV via phone lines or antennas (traffic, scores, weather, etc…). I am assuming […]
Non-farm payrolls fell -36K, handily beating the latest consensus forecast of -68K. The unemployment rate was steady at 9.7%. The market can expect some volatility from government census worker hirings over the months ahead. The effect should be positive for the next couple months, but eventually turn negative as these workers are let go. One […]
Pending home sales, generally considered a good leading indicator for final home sales fell -7.6% in January, supporting recent weakness in both existing and new home sales. This result was well below the consensus forecast calling for a monthly increment of 1.8%. This data reiterates my view that that the housing recovery will face significant headwinds over the […]
Several weeks ago Fitch warned that out of all Europe’s AAA rated sovereigns the UK was the most vulnerable to lose this rating. But, most analysts believe this would not be an issue as the government would implement austere fiscal policies reigning in large deficits and a growing debt load. Such policies do not come […]
While all eyes remain on Greece, Japan’s fundementals continue to weaken, and in some instances look worse than Greece. There are of course numerous technical and economic differences between the two nations; however, I do not believe Japan’s current deficits and debt load will be sustainable without drastic changes. This is an update from my […]
The February’s manufacturing ISM slipped to 56.5, versus a 58.4 a month prior. Disappointing the latest Bloomberg consensus forecast of 58.0. Any level over 50 signifies expansion in the sector. I continue to believe that as inventory restocking begins to slow the ISM manufacturing index will suffer as 2010 progresses. That is without a new […]