The important Employment report will come out next Friday. As usual, this data on the number of jobs, the Unemployment Rate, and wage inflation will be the most highly anticipated economic data of the month. Early estimates are for a loss of over 600K jobs in February. Before the Employment Data,
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02/27/2009
This final week of February will reveal a number of important indicators of economic growth. Existing Home Sales and New Home Sales will be released on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. Durable Orders will also come out on Thursday. Revisions to fourth quarter 2008 Gross Domestic Product (GDP
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02/23/2009
After years of being the "grumpy" one, the cynic, the glass is half empty person, I have finally arrived. Last week someone who met me last year and has spent just a small bit of time with me said "You are such an inspiration, you are always so upbeat and looking at the bright side of things". Wh
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02/16/2009
Inflation data will highlight a full Economic Calendar next week. Industrial Production, an important indicator of economic activity, and Housing Starts will be released on Wednesday. The Producer Price Index (PPI) focuses on the increase in prices of "intermediate" goods used by companies to pro
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02/13/2009
Mortgage-Backed Securities markets have showed little reaction to the economic data released this morning. January Retail Sales rose 1.0% from December, well above the consensus for a decline of -0.3%. It was the first increase in six months. Economists believe that more consumers postponed their
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02/12/2009
After I had posted "10 Debt-Free Ideas for Valentines Day" on Monday, I was suprised by the feedback I recieved. ideas Your budget is probably already tight this year as you are paying down debt, adding to savings and trying to survive with current economic conditions. But if you still want to gi
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02/11/2009
The hype surrounding Valentine's Day has long made us dig deep into our pockets for the traditional roses, chocolates, and jewelry. According to a 2008 report from the National Retail Federation, consumers expected to spend $122 on Valentine's gifts last year. But this February, in the midst of a
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02/09/2009
The US economy lost -598K jobs in January, even worse than the consensus forecast for a loss of -500K jobs. The total losses for 2008 were revised higher to 3 million, up from 2.6 million. Adding in the January figures, the economy shed 3.6 million jobs over the past 13 months, with half of the l
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02/06/2009
I'm sorry I didn't post this IMPORTANT news earlier, but I've been very busy this morning. Last night, the Senate added a significant homebuyer tax credit to the housing stimulus plan. Here are the key elements of the credit: * The tax credit is for the amount of $15,000 or 10% of the purchase
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02/05/2009
I have to confess...I was a Facebook holdout. Not because of time....but because of loyalty. I'm an AR kind of guy. The kind that likes to post here, and meet RE types from all over the country..... Until I was 'yelled at' during a seminar on how to effectively use 'social media' like AR & Facebo
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02/04/2009