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We are officially a year removed from one of the most memorable days of last year.  Yesterday marked the anniversary of Tom Hanks disclosing his positive covid-19 test result.  It was also the day the National Basketball Association (NBA) suspended it 2019-2020 season; this halt was particularly challenging to yours truly because hopes of a Lakers championship were high then

Homophones are a regular source of typos for me as I write these notes.  One came to mind earlier this week when thinking about statistics.  Meghan Trainor was not thinking about year-ago lookbacks for economic indicators when she and Kevin Kadish wrote this song (its video has over 2 billion views).  

Each day Atlas takes raw data and turns it into useable information as we monitor risks in our managed portfolios.  Our proprietary algorithm processes figures from billions of dollars trading hands during market hours here in America.  Scouring the globe for useful data can be exhausting.  You can imagine the relief our processors experienced when we found a firm offering its Fe

Energy is an abstract yet familiar concept.  We all have some idea as to what it is when we hear the word.  I know to reach for a cup of coffee if I feel like I’m lacking it.  It stands alone on one side of probably the most widely known, albeit less-than-intuitive, equations ever.  Thank you, Professor Einstein.  Adding to its mystique for us mere mortals, physic

Coronavirus keeps impacting the global economy in unforeseeable ways.  Early on there were shortages of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).  This caused some folks to jump into action and funnel the badly needed gear to hospitals and first responders.  Then there were stories about the glass-packaging industry being under pressure to produce enough vials for vaccines.  And

Finance and technology have been partners for decades.  Banks began automating bookkeeping as far back as 1959.  Then the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) materialized at about the same time young people donning hippie fashions overran the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco.  Then their partnership really started moving fast.  An automated stock exchange cr

Comprehensive and frequent are two of the best characteristics for an economic indicator.  The Chicago Branch of the Federal Reserve produces one that has both attributes: The National Activity Index.