All Reports

A third large consumer staples company has warned about rising U.S. trucking/freight costs just in the past two weeks, which I’ve previously written about in considerable detail (link). J.M. Smucker did so on August 26,…

Japan’s Ministry of Finance this morning released data on its foreign exchange (FX) reserves and foreign securities holdings as of the end of August; both fell by a record amount in August as Japan likely…

The pulp & paper price reporting service Fastmarkets late last week proposed the launch of a North American corrugated box cost benchmark that would measure changes in the costs associated with producing and delivering boxes…

After market close, Lululemon missed the StreetAccount consensus on comparable sales by a wide margin and cut its full-year sales outlook for the second straight quarter, the latest example of the weakness affecting athletic footwear…

I wrote about intensifying demand weakness among consumer companies and the substantial amount of trucking/freight cost inflation earlier today (link). In that note, I mentioned J.M. Smucker’s comments last week that it’s experiencing higher than…

I wrote last week about the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis’ (BEA) reported planned statistical changes later this month that will have the effect of reducing core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) inflation (link), the Federal…

Ahead of large consumer and industrial conferences next week, I thought a brief update was in order. I’ve covered the sales/demand weakness among consumer companies at length; demand trends have progressively deteriorated in recent quarters…

I’ve come across numerous explanations in recent days of why long-term U.S. government bond prices are falling (meaning yields are rising), including (1) the increasing odds that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will raise its policy…

I’ve written several notes lately about the state of consumer spending, including earlier today. The headline numbers look decent enough, but when one looks at the components of consumer spending from the Bureau of Economic…

I wrote yesterday about the growing share of U.S. consumer spending/personal consumption expenditures (PCE) on mandatory services such as health care, rent and insurance and on (services) categories influenced by the record-high stock market, including…

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released its Personal Income and Outlays report for July (link), which perfectly illustrated where Americans are spending their money (and why). The $36.3 billion increase in current-dollar/nominal personal…

The U.S. Treasury Department made news yet again this morning, telling CNBC (link) that it’s considering dipping into its Treasury General Account (TGA) at the Federal Reserve (Fed) to fund its increased buybacks of 10-…

Several events this month have highlighted the U.S. Treasury Department’s determination, or perhaps more accurately desperation, to hold down long-term bond yields: (1) its rare joint intervention in the Japanese yen market and encouragement of…

I wrote yesterday morning about several large U.S. retailers’ weak/disappointing 2Q comparable (comp) sales/traffic (link). Since then, the off-price/discount retailer Ross Stores (Ross Dress for Less) reported continued substantial growth, with comp sales up 10%…

U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent, as part of his rare joint intervention in the Japanese yen market, urged the Federal Reserve (Fed) to expand its FIMA Repo Facility and encouraged Japan to utilize it. The idea…