US Federal Reserve

With the Fed decision just one day away, followed the very next day by the increasingly more irrational BOJ, stocks had no desire to make significant moves and overnight's boring session was the result, as European stocks and U.S. index futures rose modestly but mostly hugged the flatline while Asian declined 0.2% for a third day as raw-material shares declined and Tokyo equities slumped before central bank meetings in the U.S. and Japan this week. China’s stocks rose the most in almost two weeks, up 0.6% but failed to rise above 3000 on the Shanghai Composite, in thin trading.

Submitted by Andrew Zeitlin of Moneyball Economics

Semiconductors Tell the Real Story of Global GDP

The industrial slowdown predicted by semiconductors is coming true.

Submitted by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

Since the end of the financial crisis, economists, analysts, and the Federal Reserve have continued to point to the monthly employment reports as proof of the ongoing economic recovery. Even the White House has jumped on the bandwagon as the President has proudly latched onto the headlines of the “longest stretch of employment gains since the 1990’s.”

Submitted by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,

The chart below would appear to be in conflict with the results of a recent Gallup poll regarding stock ownership by Americans. The ratio of household equities to money market fund assets is near a record high, 60% above the 2007 high and 30% above the 1999 internet bubble high. The chart would appear to prove irrational exuberance among the general populace.

As we reported yesterday, following the meeting held between Obama and Yellen last Monday, one reader tried to get some additional information on what was exchanged between the two most important people in the world beyond the cursory White House statement which is reposted below: