Business

Two weeks ago we reported that July auto sales were a disaster: recall sales for bloated with inventory GM were down 15% YoY, Ford off 7% and Chrysler down 11% - despite record incentive spending - as overall auto sales declined and disappointed for yet another month. And yet, according to this morning's retail sales report from the Census Bureau, sales for "motor vehicle & parts stores" rose much more robustly than anyone had anticipated, rising 1.2%, the fastest pace since December.

It's been a while since we checked in on the state of Manhattan's ultra high end real estate market, and judging by what was said in the latest Starwood Property Trust earnings call, where CEO Barry Sternlicht warned of a doomsday waiting at the end of New York's "Billionaire's Row", what's coming is nothing short of a disaster.

Authored by Kevin Muir via The Macro Tourist blog,

I don’t regularly watch CNBC, but last week while on vacation, I turned on the Sirius XM radio and was instantly assaulted with Jim Cramer’s shrieking. I was about to turn the channel when he shouted how the “billionaire bears” might finally be catching a break with the stock market downdraft.

I have to give Cramer credit, that’s a good line to describe the growing cohort of negative investment legends. Wondering if Jim came up with it on his own, I googled it.

The market's reaction to this morning's retail sales beat is mixed. The Dollar is surging, gold is tanking, and while The Dow is unch, Nasdaq is sliding...

Gold, Bonds, and Tech stocks are sinking post-data...

But the dollar is surging...

We wonder if this is the start of 2016 deja vu all over again...

The August Empire State Manufacturing Index printed at a blistering 25.2, reversing last month's plunge to 9.8, smashing expectations of a 10.0 print, and the highest print since September 2014.

The surge was driven by the new orders index which rose seven points to 20.6 and the shipments index, which hit 12.4. Meanwhile, delivery times continued to lengthen suggesting growing capacity problems in the supply chain, while inventory levels declined. More good news came from labor market indicators, which pointed to an increase in employment and hours worked.