Category Archives: Economics

Retail Results

October retail is for the sixth month in a row, but just barely. Retail sales up a seasonally adjusted 0.3% MoM v.0.5% expectations, and short the 1.6% gain in September. The losers include grocery-store sales (down 0.4%), bar and restaurant receipts (down 0.1%), and both sporting goods and clothing sales (down 4.2%). MoM winners include non-store retailersContinue reading “Retail Results”

Commercial Loan Demand Crash

Last quarter, we saw collapsing consumer loan supply, tighter loan conditions, and consumer demand falling to record low levels. That was then. This is now. the latest round of bank earnings saw a collapse in loan loss provisions across the US banking sector, which miraculously plunged from near all time highs back to pre-covid levelsContinue reading “Commercial Loan Demand Crash”

Chinese Corn Prices Accelerate

“China imported 1.1 million tons of corn in September, a jump of 675% from a year earlier, according to official customs data. That was the highest level since 2016. Between January and September, inbound shipments climbed 73% to 6.67 million tons, the highest since at least 2005, data showed.” https://www.bloombergquint.com/china/china-s-2020-corn-imports-are-already-the-highest-in-15-years#:~:text=China%20imported%201.1%20million%20tons,at%20least%202005%2C%20data%20showed.

Transport Volumes Up

Carloads and intermodal units up 2.2% YoY. Four carload commodities showed increases over 2019, led by grain, up 23.9%;  six were down, most notably coal (minus-20.1%) and petroleum and petroleum products (minus-19.1%). For the year to date, total traffic is down 9.8%, with intermodal units down 5.1% and carloads down 14.9%. https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2020/10/21-intermodal-traffic-remains-up-carloads-still-down-aar-statistics-show

Enjoy Oligarchy

“ “Step one, help yourself to tasty assets from the public trough. Step two, figure out how to keep them. “The best investment in Ukrainian history may be about to become even better—Burisma’s recruiting of Hunter Biden to its board. After a government minister allegedly awards himself lucrative gas rights, the Ukrainian people overthrow aContinue reading “Enjoy Oligarchy”