Archive for August 2016

Annual US healthcare spending is $8,713/person, by far the highest in the world. Switzerland comes next at $6,325/person, followed by Norway at $5,852/person. Canada is 10th at $4,351/person, less than half the US total. Among developed nations, Korea spends the least at $2,275/person. As a percentage of GDP, US spending is a staggering 16.4%, followed…

January through June 2016 GDP growth was a dismal 1% on an annualized basis. A key culprit, inventories sliced 1.2 percentage points off GDP in Q2 and have now subtracted from GDP growth for 5 straight quarters, the first time this has happened since 1957. Inventories have never declined for six quarters in a row.…

Despite terrorism and global concerns, American equities are surging. It’s because consumer spending is strong, inflation and wages are rising but pleasantly slowly, bank lending is up, energy prices seem to have bottomed, industrial production is rising and while the global economy isn’t booming, it’s not falling apart. In short, investors are worried but know…

Household debt rose by $35 billion in Q2, led by a $32 billion rise in auto loans and a pleasant $17 billion jump in credit card balances. Student loan levels were unchanged and mortgage and HELOC debt declined by $7 billion each. Total household debt is now $400 billion below its 2008 peak and troughed…

The Friday File: Since 2006, ten artists have turned over $1 billion at auction. Top of the list: Pablo Picasso at $3.43 billion, followed by Andy Warhol at $3.38 billion, Zhang Daqian at $2.03 billion, Qi Baishi at $1.91 billion and Francis Bacon at $1.56 billion. The best performing genre since 2006, 20th-century Belgian painting,…

Last week, the Bank of England halved its interest rate to 0.25%, the lowest rate in its 322 year history! It also announced a new round of short-term government bond-buying totaling $80 billion and two other programs to stimulate the economy. The BOE also slashed its growth forecast for 2017 from 2.3% to 0.8%, its…

From mid-2014 through 12/15, the US dollar appreciated 25%. This rise was a major reason why the Fed only raised rates once in 2015. Since the start of 2016, however, the US dollar has fallen by 4% despite central bank easing in Japan, Europe and the UK. If the dollar continues not to appreciate, it…

In 2014, the inheritance tax affected 5,200 estates, roughly 0.2% of those who died. And, the inheritance tax generated $19.3 billion or 0.6% of all federal revenue, down from 1% in 1990 due to increases in the size of the exemption, which is now $5,430,000. That aside, the average inheritance tax bill is $3.7 million,…

With 255,000 net new jobs created in July and upward revisions to prior months, Friday’s job report was stellar. While the unemployment rate held steady, it’s because a huge number of persons entered the labor force. Moreover, the work week rose from 34.4 hours to 34.5; equivalent to another 375,000 jobs. Combined with average hourly…

The Friday File: During the upcoming 31st Olympiad, the US team should win more gold medals (40) and more silver medals (60) than any other. China will come in a close second, with 35 gold and 45 silver. Like in 2012 in London when, for the first time, the US women won more medals than…