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Many comparisons between the U.S. and Chinese economy have been made lately both in the press and by numerous talking heads.  At our most recent Pie Party this topic came up for discussion.  Caught by surprise, J R (incredibly!) turned to technology for an answer.  He brought up the Big Mac Index.

Durable Goods Orders jumped in December 2017 according to the Census Bureau.  Rising 2.9 percent to $249.4 billion, the most recent uptick followed November’s upwardly revised tally of 1.7 percent (originally 1.3 percent).  From the vantage point of this indicator’s headline, the outlook for the economy is positive as orders for wares expected to last at least three years

Sales of new homes fell in December 2017 according to the Census Bureau.  Signed contracts declined 9.3 percent in the period to 625,000 units on an annualized rate.

More growth is the message from the latest release of the Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index (LEI).  In fact, the December 2017 iteration suggests an acceleration of economic output as the LEI increased to 0.6 percent from the upwardly revised tally of 0.5 percent (originally 0.4 percent).  The recent strength in this indicator bodes well for the first half of 2018.

Existing homes sales declined at the end of 2017 but edged higher for the year, putting in the best annual tally since 2006.  Data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) show sales dropped 3.3 in December to 5.57 million annualized units, a decline from the downwardly revised tally of 5.78 million in November (originally 5.81 million).  Despite the revision, November 2017 was

Last year will go down as record setting.  The number of global billionaires increased by more than ever before.  According to a study by Oxfam there were 2043 billionaires in the world at year’s end 2017, with a new one now being minted every two days.  When juxtaposed against some of the poorest people on earth, this growth rate seems to be a bit much; Oxfam estimates bil

Output accelerated during December 2017 according to data from the Chicago Federal Reserve National Activity Index (CFNAI).  This comprehensive indicator rose to +0.27 from the downwardly revised count of +0.11 (originally +0.15).  Additionally, the three-month moving average held relatively steady at +0.42 versus +0.43 in November, suggesting the economic expansion is not overheated.

America’s output of physically made goods improved 0.9 percent in December 2017 according to the Industrial Production figures from the Federal Reserve.  This strong uptick followed the downwardly revised count of 0.1 percent in November (originally up 0.2 percent).  Versus twelve months earlier, this indicator is 3.6 percent higher.

Retail sales added to economic output as 2017 came to a close according to the Census Bureau.  Spending totaled $495.4 billion in December, rising 0.4 percent.  Compared to a year earlier, retail sales improved 5.4 percent.  Additionally, November’s count was revised upward to 0.9 percent from the already impressive 0.8 percent jump in the initial release.

Prices paid by Americans were higher in December 2017 according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  However, the rates of change were mixed.  For instance, the month-over-month Consumer Price Index (CPI) decelerated to just 0.1 percent after hitting 0.4 percent a month earlier, and the year-over-year tally slowed to 2.1 percent from 2.2 percent.  However, core-CPI (whic