Robert Brusca
Robert Brusca
batch consistent consumer early numbers reports says seen severe signal soft softness spending strength
It's really a soft batch of numbers today. Nothing says 'recession' or severe slowdown but there is a consistent signal of softness that permeates these reports and belies some of the strength in consumer spending that we have seen early in the year.
bonds focus good growth inflation market numbers reaction seeing strong year
But it was a strong year of growth and you see the inflation numbers were very, very tranquil. If anything, bonds are going to focus on inflation so we should be seeing a good bond market reaction to this.
change fed growth jobs last less month next number six weak zero
But even if you have a weak number next month, even if you get zero growth, you'd be averaging about 150,000 new jobs a month (for the last six months.) So the Fed would need to see something less than zero to change its mind.
convinced doubt good holidays home numbers
No doubt the numbers look pretty good up and down the line. However, I'm not convinced yet that the holidays are home free.
afraid bullet difficult economy federal growing hard inflation kinds means numbers raise rates reserve sort
It means we sort of dodged another bullet on the inflation front. These kinds of numbers put the Federal Reserve in a difficult box. We don't have inflation, the economy is growing too fast, they are afraid it won't keep up, but it's hard for them to raise rates without any inflation on the doorstep.
high jobs numbers pump rate
We can't pump out jobs at the rate of 300,000 a month. Numbers as high as even 200,000 a month, they're even too much.
bad basis coming housing market numbers strong
We are coming off strong numbers, and I don't think we would want to say bad things about the housing market on the basis of these numbers alone.
across below count covers energy number overall pressure price products report shot warning
You count up the products (showing price increases) and you see there's a little more pressure just below the surface, ... The overall energy number showed a big decline. That covers up a lot of ills. But the PPI was the warning shot across the bow. With the CPI report we dodged the bullet.
claims improvement numbers quite strange turn
The claims numbers always do strange things at the end of the year. There was some improvement at the turn of the year, but the story is that claims are gravitating back to the 400,000, where they were for quite while.
energy inflation rising seems storm weathered
Inflation seems to have weathered the storm of rising energy prices.
fed inflation worried wrong
Inflation is very contained. It's not going anywhere. The Fed is little too worried about the wrong thing. I'm more worried about growth.
inflation
Inflation is very contained; it's not going anywhere.
across fed horizons inflation left months rising six waiting wondering
Inflation is rising in more sectors than it is falling. It is doing so across horizons of one month, six months and 12 months. We are left in all this wondering what the Fed is up to and what it is waiting for.
across areas broad concerned core declines fed growth inflation percent prices reason spectrum
Inflation decelerated across a broad spectrum of core CPI areas -- about 40 percent of prices in the core showed declines in their year-over-year growth rate. That's a big proportion. The Fed is concerned and has a reason to be concerned.