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Author archive:

MikeMcD82

Americans now Only Spend $1.98 on Wine For Every Dollar Spent on Beer (vs $3.00 in 2000)

Prior to prohibition there were a large number of craft breweries in the U.S., during prohibition they all of course were forced to close.  In the years following the repeal of prohibition Americans acquired a taste for questionable quality macro-breweries (Bud, Pabst, Coors, etc). About a decade or two ago the craft beer movement in the U.S. […]

Money Market Fund Crunch

Investors are begining to flock away from low yielding money market funds as the U.S. debt ceiling impasse lingers on, reducing short-term liquidity.  Over the past two weeks investors have pulled out more than $62 billion from such funds echoing moves leading up to Lehman’s collapse where investors withdrew nearly $200 billion.  The loss of […]

No Publicity is Bad Publicity? Tell that one to Greece…

While it’s often said no publicity is bad publicity Greece is a clear exception to the rule.  Mentions of Greece in stories on the terminal are approaching its May 2010 high; corresponding with the period Greece first accepted an EU sponsored bailout.  Greece’s more frequent mentions has come at a cost for the country and […]

Global Modified Misery Index as a Barometer for Civil Unrest

Social unrest in Tunisia has shone a spotlight on the country’s high inflation and unemployment, characteristics shared by many of its neighbors. The misery index developed by economist Arthur Okun traditionally adds a country’s inflation rate and unemployment to measure quality of life. Bloomberg Brief modified this for the map below, adding in the Democracy […]

The QE Trade Road Map From the Bloomberg Brief: Economics

When the Federal Reserve launched its unprecedented program of quantitative easing in early 2009, it was difficult to predict how various asset classes would react. Now, as the Fed considers a second round of asset purchases, the first program has left a blueprint of sorts behind that could be useful in predicting how markets might […]

Future Updates

I am now working as a full-time economist with Bloomberg LP, so I will only be able to make sparse updates to my personal blog.  The good news is you can still follow me on twitter where I will remain active:  http://twitter.com/M_McDonough Thanks for reading!

A Rare Divergence for GDP Forecasts Highlights Uncertainties

Taking a random sampling of 2Q GDP forecasts for Bloomberg we can see the uncertainty facing the release schedule for 7/30.  Weaker than expected trade and and inventory data are the primary culprits behind the uncertainty, and I imagine more banks will revise down their forecasts as we move closer to the release.  Presently, I believe […]

An Old Radio Piece

An older piece I did on Bloomberg radio discussing the correlation between garbage and GDP.  I am more putting it up here, so I don’t lose track of the file… Bloomberg radio 6-11-10