Market Jitters Evident in the Reaction to Australian Jobs Data

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on December 10, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) On December 10th, the Australin Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported Australia’s jobs data for November, 2015. The results were in-line with existing trends: {snip} Adjusted for seasonality, the unemployment rate decreased … Read more

The Bullish Economic News from America’s Truckers

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on August 29, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) The iShares Transportation Average (IYT) began to diverge notably from the S&P 500 (SPY) in March of this year. It took another five months for this divergence to resolve into a … Read more

The Australian Dollar Rallies Sharply On Strong November Jobs Report

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on November 11, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} Statistics Australia reported a large jump in jobs for the month of October, 2015. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped from 6.2% to 5.9%. This is the lowest unemployment rate … Read more

A Policy Island for the Fed: The Bank of England and U.S. Economic Data Isolate the Fed

This past week was an important one for monetary policy. The Bank of England (BoE) made clear it is willing to put off rate hikes as long as necessary. Despite its words that suggest otherwise, the Bank is NOT biased for action. U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen made it clear that, all else being … Read more

A Rebound In Canada’s Oil Patch Helps Support GDP But Not the Canadian Dollar

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on November 1, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) For the third straight month, mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction in Canada expanded. According to Statistics Canada, this commodity and energy based category of economic output has now grown … Read more