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American firms continued adding jobs in September 2019 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Their latest tally indicates 136,000 net new jobs were gained in the period.  However, this improvement is slower than the upwardly revised tally of 168,000 (originally 130,000) in August.  Despite the slowing rate of improvement, the unemployment rate fell to just 3.5 percent, th

Did you hear the good news?  The Los Angeles Lakers played a fantastic first half of their opening pre-season game!  Anthony Davis, their new power forward, scored 22 points, and future Hall of Famer Lebron James added 15 himself.  While this first half was an encouraging 24 minutes of basketball, it doesn’t count toward the season’s tally, so plans for a championship

Our economy is currently in the middle of its longest economic expansion ever.  Sometimes it’s tough to imagine the Great Recession ended over a decade ago or that the first recession of this century started over 18 years ago.  During both downturns, output was in steep decline and firms were hemorrhaging jobs by the hundreds of thousands each week (e.g., in March 2009, the net

At Tuesday’s Pie Party, a question about the Repo Market (thanks Jerry S.) started the meeting.  After a quick definition, we concluded it has largely moved back to normal, and the system is working orderly once again. 

In 1970 the United States issued a block of four stamps (pictured above).  Note that regular postage costs $0.06 then. These stamps were intended to call attention to the importance of four ecological issues and the threats each faced.

Each month the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) puts out their Employment Situation report.  Regular reader’s saw the Atlas note on it yesterday morning.  This report covers two surveys: households and payrolls.  Our nation’s unemployment rate is derived from the household survey.  Each month the BLS lobs a call to 60,000 homes or so and asks those willing to ans

One of the most-followed economic indicators disappointed in August 2019.  Employment gains decelerated to 130,000 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Adding to the weakness, the prior two months’ tallies were downwardly revised by 20,000 net new jobs.  However, we shouldn’t lose track of the fact that unemployment is very low; it held steady at 3.7 percent

The Treasury yield curve (a graphical representation of Treasury bond yields plotted along an X-axis defined by maturity) has continued making headlines this week.  It has spent a substantial amount of the period “inverted,” to wit, the two-year full faith and credit notes are paying more than ten-year Treasury bonds.  Typically, this is seen as a harbinger of a looming re

Insensitivity is on the rise.  It’s taking the world by storm.