Maybe the U.S. consumer is never coming back–and the global economy will stay awash in excess capacity
Consumer demand in the United States isn’t coming back. Not anytime soon. Not for a decade or more. Not to anything like the levels of 2006 or 2007 before the global economic crisis hit full force. I know that’s not the conventional wisdom–or...A week ahead with enough economic date to move stock markets
Get set for a week of economic news—and spin. And it’s how the numbers are spun that will determine if the recent stock market slide continues or shifts into a resumption of the rally. The big number, of course, is due on Friday when the U.S. government releases...Update Coach (COH)
Good sales and earning numbers from Coach (COH) for its fiscal second quarter but Wall Street wanted more and the stock was down almost 6% as of 11:15 in New York. The pattern here of sell even on the good news reminds me of the market’s reaction to Intel’s (INTC)...So where's the growth supposed to come from?
People who don’t have jobs don’t run up their credit card balances. Not much of a surprise. But in November it added up to a record 14th straight monthly drop in credit card debt. Today, January 8, the Federal Reserve reported that credit-card debt fell by $13.7...Are we thriftier or have banks just cut up our credit cards?
Maybe U.S. consumers aren’t quite so virtuous after all. According to the flow of funds report from the Federal Reserve released last week, U.S. consumers had cut back on their use of credit in the third quarter of 2009. Outstanding credit card bills had dropped by...Household wealth rises and foreclosure rate hits a record–what kind of recovery is this?
Put these two headlines together from Bloomberg today and you’ve got a good snapshot of the U.S. economic “recovery” to date. “U.S. Foreclosures to Reach 3.9 Million in Second Record Year.” “Household Net Worth in U.S. Increases by $2.67 Trillion.” Let’s look at the...Plastic staying home alone this holiday shopping season
Shoppers are leaving home without it this year. An estimated 28.3% of consumers will use credit cards to pay for holiday gifts this year, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation and BIGresearch. That would be a drop from the 31.5% of consumers who paid...Update Middleby (MIDD)
On November 10 Middleby (MIDD) reported third quarter earnings of 83 cents a share, four cents a share better than Wall Street projections, but still 19% down from the third quarter of 2008. Revenue fell 7.5% from the third quarter of 2008. At $154 million revenue was...Buy Coach (COH)
Listening to the management team at Coach (COH) talk about the company’s business is an odd experience. This “fashion” company spends a lot of time talking about “engineering” its products and building production and distribution “infrastructure.” (Want to hear a...Is the New Frugality just hype?
Jimmy Choo—well, his iconic Sex-in-the-City shoes anyway—is now on the war-torn economic frontline. So is Stella McCartney. Anna Sui. And, of course, McDonald’s. The battle is over the New Frugality, the current marketing hot button as the United States gradually...Consumer borrowing continued to plunge in August
At 3 p.m. on October 7 the Federal Reserve reported that, as expected, consumer credit fell for the seventh consecutive month in August.. The drop of $12 billion was even worse than the consensus prediction going into the report of a $10 billion drop. If you’re...We'd gladly go into debt to save the economy but those bad banks won't let us
U.S. consumers cut back on borrowing by a record $21.6 billion in July. According to the Federal Reserve, consumer credit fell at an annual rate of 10% in the month. That’s about five times faster than the contraction that economists were expecting. That’s great news...Jim’s Daily Email Alerts:
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