Investors and the press love to read the tea leaves of the FOMC meeting minutes. Most in the press believe July 31st Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting minutes confirm quantitative easing, the $85 billion a month in mortgage backed securities and asset purchases, will be reduced starting in September. We don't know that answer but we can guess. From the minutes:
The July state employment statistics show an odd data duck. In spite of the national unemployment rate decline, 28 states plus D.C. showed their unemployment rate increased. Only eight states showed unemployment rate declines and 14 of the states had no change at all.
Did you know the United States has the worst income inequality of any industrialized nation? So says the OECD in this study. Globally, income inequality has increased more from 2007 to 2010 than during the twelve years previous and America is sure enough #1.
Wall Street is on edge, placing bets when their crack cocaine, quantitative easing will be removed. The Federal Reserve said they would have to taper quantitative easing if inflation went past their target rate.
The opposition to Larry Summers as Federal Reserve Chair is growing. There is new petition demanding Obama not appoint Larry Summers and already has almost 100,000 signatures. Yet that doesn't seem to phase President Obama who some say seems bound and determined to nominate Summers to the post.
The July 2013 Federal Reserve's Industrial Production & Capacity Utilization report shows no change in industrial production. Manufacturing alone declined -0.1% for the month. Utilities dropped -2.1% and is the 4th monthly decline in a row. The G.17 industrial production statistical release is also known as output for factories and mines.
The DOL reported people filing for initial unemployment insurance benefits in the week ending on July 13th, 2013 was 320,000, a 15,000 decrease from the previous week of 335,000. This is the second time in three weeks initial claims has hit pre-recession levels and the last time levels were this low is October 2007.
Business Inventories, or Manufacturing and Trade Sales and Inventories, show a no change in June inventories and a -0.1% change for May. Sales increased 0.2% for June and 1.1% for May. This is really bad news for Q2 GDP.
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