We think we know that Hurricane Helene in late September and Hurricane Milton on October 9th, both must have had an impact on employment data in Florida, North Carolina and several other southeastern states. Helene obviously struck ahead of the BLS reference period for the month of October, while Milton struck during the October reference period. The BLS released a statement that the Household Survey was conducted according to procedure and that the response rate was surprisingly...

For just the second month of 2024, and the first month since April, after surviving the often more dangerousmonth of September, the S&P 500 posted a negative October. The Nasdaq Composite closed out the month in the red as well, although that index had already posted a negative April as well as a negative July in 2024. There was some ugliness out there if you want to find it. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite have fared better than other pockets of our marketplace.
For tha...

Thought it would be a bigger problem in your life when you were a kid than it ended up being? Let me tel you a little story.
A long, long time ago, in a jungle far, far away, we were out on patrol. This is before GPS, before night-vision, and with radios that worked far less reliable than what they have today.
I was a corporal, acting as squad leader. I had a kid named Lewis walking point. Good kid, immigrant from Haiti. Smallest guy in the squad. His best friend, because they we...

"The entire surface of this metallic enclosure
was rudely doubled in all the hideous and
repulsive devices to which the charnel
superstition of the monks has given rise.
The figures of fiends in aspects of menace,
with skeleton forms, and other more really
fearful images, overspread and disfigured the walls."
- The narrator awakens within the confines of a darkened, semi-lit prison riddled with hidden traps, and surveys the horrors around. ... Edgar Allen Poe, 1842

On Tuesday morning, financial services company Sofi Technologies (SOFI), reported the firm's third quarter financial results. For the three-month period ended September 30th, SoFi Technologies posted a GAAP EPS of $0.05 on revenue of $697.121M. The earnings print beat the street by a penny a share and was good for a fourth consecutive quarter of profitability.
The revenue number beat consensus decisively, beating the firm's own guidance and was good enough for year over...

Even though last week was a down week for the S&P 500, the major averages remain close enough to their all-time highs where some normal consolidation might be expected. The market has already recovered from an early sell-off on Tuesday. One might think that equities were still pricing in much lower interest rates in the wake of the FOMC's less than well thought out cut of 50 basis points to the target range for the Fed Funds Rate as the culprit. That has not really played...

There were no major surprises that came out of last week's BRICS summit. That said, it remains clear that the group is growing and probably has its sights on re-setting the world economic order that to our benefit has relied upon the US Dollar as its leading reserve currency really since the end of World War II.
Aside from the now 9 full members of BRICS, another 26 nations sent delegations. There appears to be no current push to form a monetary bloc such as the Euro-Zone, but ...

At least the Fed has gone into their media blackout ahead of the November 7th policy decision. Those folks won't be speaking and getting in the way this week. Once we thought of Federal Reserve Board Governors as accomplished economists? Much has has changed.
This will be a busy week, gang. Both on the macro and on the earnings sides. As far as the macro is concerned, this is September Jobs Week. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the almost certain to be highly ina...

Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) has apparently achieved early production yields at the firm's first plant in Arizona that have surpassed what similar manufacturing facilities are yielding for the firm in Taiwan. What that means is that the firm's fab plant in Phoenix is yielding usable wafers that are about 4 percentage points higher than the firm's plants in its home nation are producing.
Rick Cassidy, president of the firm's US division was quoted by Bloomberg news as saying, "O...

On Thursday evening, news broke that US District Judge Jennifer Rochon blocked Tapestry's (TPR) $8.5B acquisition of Capri Holdings (CPRI). Judge Rochon granted the Federal Trade Commission's motion for a preliminary injunction to block the deal. The FTC had sued to block this merger, on the grounds that if this combination were allowed to proceed, that would eliminate competition between Coach, Kate Spade, and Michael Kors as all of these brands focus on "accessible luxury." ...