Shortened Week

Posted on Friday, September 11, 2009

EconomPics of the Shortened Week
September 11, 2009 at 2:52 pm

For the record, I love 4 day work weeks. Maybe the possible shift to a European'ish society wouldn't be a horrible thing...

Economic Data

Consumer
Consumer Sentiment Improves
Consumer Credit Freefall
Household Income Blues...

Employment Trends
No Growth in Private Sector in 10 Years... Manufacturing in 70
More on U.S. Manufacturing
Female Workforce on the Move
Employment: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Other
Importation of Deflation Reversing
Trade Plunge
Budget Deficit Improving

Health Care

The Power of Oratory
The Costs of Health Care

Assets

Risk Appetite Supporting the Euro
Hedge Funds Continue to Shine in '0-9

And a new feature... video of the week. Presenting Liam Finn.

Budget Deficit Improving
September 11, 2009 at 2:20 pm

Forex Yard with the latest:

The U.S. government posted a $111.40 billion budget deficit in August, slightly smaller than a year ago due largely to calendar shifts and matching a record period of 11 straight monthly deficits, the Treasury Department said on Friday.
The August budget gap was well below the forecasts of analysts polled by Reuters, who predicted a $152.0 billion deficit for the month. The year-ago deficit was $111.91 billion.

A surprise to the upside (though still very negative), but an improvement none-the-less. We can see this below with a chart that details the year over year change, smoothed out over three month time frames.

My concern is that the massive spike in outlays was the sole reason for economic prints coming in more "stable" over the past few months (although it is amazing that this level of spending didn't create many absolute positives in recent months).

The question is what happens when the government doesn't have it's next cash for _____ program?

Source: Treasury

Importation of Deflation Reversing
September 11, 2009 at 10:29 am

The WSJ reports:

U.S. import prices rebounded last month on the back of higher energy prices, following a brief dip in July.
Import prices climbed 2% in August from the month before, the Labor Department said Friday. That followed an unrevised 0.7% decline in July, the first drop of the year. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected a 1.2% gain. Still, import prices remained down 15% compared with August 2008, following a 19.2% annual decline the month before that was the biggest drop since the index was first published in 1982.
Petroleum import prices jumped 10.5% in August from July -- the sixth gain in seven months -- but were down 38.1% on the year.
Excluding petroleum, import prices were 0.4% higher from July, though remained down 6.5% from August 2008.

Source: BLS

Consumer Sentiment Improves
September 11, 2009 at 10:12 am

Marketwatch details:

Consumer sentiment improved sharply in early September, according to media reports on Friday of the Reuters/University of Michigan index. The consumer sentiment index rose to 70.2 from 65.7 in August. This is the first gain in the past three months.
The increase was above the consensus forecast of Wall Street economists who had expected sentiment to improve to 68.0. Economists expected sentiment to improve because of rising stock prices and a sense that the recession may be ending.