Retailer woes continued this morning when Macy's reported another round of pitiful quarterly earnings, which saw comp store sales at owned plus licensed stores tumble -4.6%, below the already depressed estimate of -3.5%. On an "owned" basis, the miss was even worse, with Q1 comps sliding -5.2%,, almost twice as bad as the consensus estimate of -3.0%.
For the 3rd month in a row, US Producer Prices have risen at a faster rate than The Fed's mandate. April healdine PPI rose 2.5% YoY - the most since Feb 2012, and well above the highest anayst estimate, despite disinflationary credit impulse pressures from China being seen in industrial metals. The biggest driver is surging costs for investment advice!
Core PPI (ex food and energy) rose 1.9% YoY - also above highest estimates - to the highest since Dec 2014.
Via The Daily Bell
180 years ago today, everyone panicked. On May 10, 1837, New York banks finally realized that the easy money they were lending was unsustainable, and demanded payment in “specie,” or hard money like gold and silver coin. They had previously been accepting paper currency that for every $5 was backed by only $1 in silver or gold.
The state of Connecticut has been hit hard by the double whammy of a deteriorating local economy, coupled with a plunge in hedge fund profits - as well as hedge fund managers permanently relocating to Florida - leading to a collapse in tax revenues. According to the the latest Connecticut budget released last week, the state is reeling from the consequences of sliding tax revenue from the super-rich, i.e. the state's hedge fund managers. The latest figures showed that tax revenue from the state’s top 100 highest-paying taxpayers declined 45% from 2015 to 2016.
After tonight's significant downgrade and warning from Moody's about Canadian Banks, the following seems extremely prescient now.
Authored by George Stockus via BeatlesOnBanking.com,
Stability breeds instability – this was economist Hyman Minsky‘s lasting contribution to the craft. The Minsky Moment , popularized during the 07-09 US housing crisis, basically suggests breeding animal spirits too long creates systemic problems.