Submitted by Businomics Blog
After a huge panic late last year, bankers are again willing to lend money to one another at fairly low interest rates.  “LIBOR” is the London InterBank Offered Rate.  The spread over Fed Funds widened when banks got very nervous about . . . other banks.  Now things aren’t so bad.

Bond markets, […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
……According to First Trust Advisors (economists Brian Wesbury and Robert Stein)

Summary: Despite a loss of payroll jobs in the past three months, it is likely that real GDP grew at about a 2% annual rate in the first quarter. While real GDP may slow to just 0.5% in the second quarter, we […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

Wall Street Journal–Wal-Mart reported today a 0.7% rise in U.S. same-store sales excluding fuel, the lower end of its forecast (see top chart above, click to enlarge). The firm’s Sam’s Club chain posted a 0.7% drop because of losing a day of sales to Easter closures. That hurt sales by 2 to […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

Some positive aspects of today’s trade report, despite CNBC news reports on “red ink” and “losing the trade deficit war.”
1. On an annual basis, U.S. export of goods and services rose in February by almost 21%, from $125 billion in Febuary 2007 to $151.4 billion in February 2008, according to trade data […]

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Submitted by Econbrowser
The IMF released the World Economic Outlook’s forecasts yesterday. There’s been plenty of coverage, so I won’t recap the main points, but rather focus in on some interesting aspects:

The rapidity of the downshifting of estimates since January.
Commodity price prospects and the LDCs.

Here’s the key table, outlining growth prospects for 2008 and 2009:

Table 1.1 […]

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Submitted by The Capital Spectator
Global economic growth is slowing, the International Monetary Fund announced yesterday in its new World Economic Outlook (WEO).
“The global expansion is losing speed in the face of a major financial crisis,” WEO advises. The leading offender is the U.S., the report says, thanks to the correction in the housing market. “The […]

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Submitted by unsettling economics
President George Bush has one major policy victory for which he has not received sufficient credit. Illegal immigration has been one of the most contentious issues in American policy in recent years. Brilliant minds have tried to put together some compromise that would stem the flow of illegal immigrants.
But President Bush has […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

Washington Post business columnist Steven Pearlstein thinks CEOs are overpaid, and writes about it unconvincingly in his column “Off Balance at the Top.” He also appeared on CNBC’s “Kudlow & Company” tonight in this segment and said, “As a general rule, CEO pay levels are too high. $12 million is not outrageous, […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
The CD graph above was featured on CNBC’s “Kudlow & Company” tonight, during the segment “Texas Economics” (starting about 0:45) featuring Texas Governor Rick Perry (no relation!) discussing the recession-proof Texas economy. Texas had the lowest unemployment rate in February (4.1%) since the 1970s (see chart below from this CD post), […]

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Submitted by A Dash of Insight
Try this line:  “I’m from the Financial Accounting Standards Board and I’m here to help you.”
Not very persuasive?  We are not surprised.
Background
FAS 157 is a well-intentioned attempt to clarify derivative accounting and increase transparency.  Had it been introduced at a different time, the transition might have been smoother.  Instead, the […]

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