Consumer Sentiment Finds Sunnier Outlook

[InTheLight]

Consumers' mood brightened this month, despite other evidence that their spending is still cautious.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan survey's consumer sentiment index for June rose to 82.5 from 81.9 in May.

That's below the survey's most recent high in April and June 2013 -- 84.1 for both months. Its 12-month high was 85.1 in July.

But Richard Curtin, director of the University of Michigan's consumer surveys, said it was significant that the sentiment index reading had stayed largely unchanged for six months despite the economy's sharp contraction early this year.

Consumers blame the decline on the harsh winter weather and instead have focused on the labor market's string of strong gains, he said. The U.S. has gained more than 200,000 jobs a month in February through May.

June's consumer sentiment survey found the highest share of households reporting making financial gains in nearly seven years, he said.

"The proportion of households that reported improved finances over the past year was 40% in June, up from 35% one month and one year ago," Curtin said in a statement.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money...higan-consumer-sentiment-june-final/11453717/

 

[poncho]

According to a major new report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), net employment growth in the United States since 2000 has gone entirely to immigrants, legal and illegal. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, CIS scholars Steven A. Camarota and Karen Zeigler found that there were 127,000 fewer working-age natives holding a job in the first quarter of 2014 than in 2000, while the number of immigrants with a job was 5.7 million above the 2000 level.

The rapidity with which immigrants recovered from the Great Recession, as well as the fact that they held a disproportionate share of jobs relative to their share of population growth before the recession, help to explain their findings, the authors report. In addition, native-born Americans and immigrants were affected differently by the recession.

Other significant findings include:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/381362/study-all-employment-growth-2000-went-immigrants-nro-staff

World Destabilized By Globalist Gangland Mindset. David Knight and Gerald Celente discuss the efforts of global interests to take over the economy of America, Crash society and bring about a new class of slave minded individuals that do not question their government

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbA18fukHhs&list=UUCs_FjJR8A7rompHCnW0-3g

 

[InTheLight]

World Destabilized By Globalist Gangland Mindset. David Knight and Gerald Celente discuss the efforts of global interests to take over the economy of America, Crash society and bring about a new class of slave minded individuals that do not question their government

"That's off topic." -- Some Internet Guy, 1998

 

[poncho]

BIS Slams "Market Euphoria", Finds "Puzzling Disconnect" Between Economy And Market

"... it is hard to avoid the sense of a puzzling disconnect between the markets’ buoyancy and underlying economic developments globally.... Despite the euphoria in financial markets, investment remains weak. Instead of adding to productive capacity, large firms prefer to buy back shares or engage in mergers and acquisitions.

As history reminds us, there is little appetite for taking the long-term view. Few are ready to curb financial booms that make everyone feel illusively richer. Or to hold back on quick fixes for output slowdowns, even if such measures threaten to add fuel to unsustainable financial booms. Or to address balance sheet problems head-on during a bust when seemingly easier policies are on offer. The temptation to go for shortcuts is simply too strong, even if these shortcuts lead nowhere in the end.
- Bank of International Settlements, 84th Annual Report

It was a year ago when the general manager of the Bank of International Settlements (the central banks' central bank), Jamie Caruana warned that the "Monetary Kool-Aid Party Is Over." Since then central banks have proven their own supervisor wrong in their ability to kick the can, because even as the Fed has commenced tapering its own QE (due to the same bond market liquidity issues we warned about last summer) the ECB has more than offset the Fed's brief attempt at policy normalization by escalating, for the first time in history, from ZIRP to NIRP. In other words, the Kool-Aid keeps flowing.

Which brings us to the BIS' just released annual report. There are many reason to read the full report cover to cover, but perhaps the most prominent one is that, once again, the Bank of International Settlements has merely compiled a book report of all Zero Hedge posts not only over the past year, but since our inception.

A quick summary of the report comes from FT:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-29/bis-slams-market-euphoria-finds-puzzling-disconnect-between-economy-and-market

 

[InTheLight]

Which brings us to the BIS' just released annual report. There are many reason to read the full report cover to cover, but perhaps the most prominent one is that, once again, the Bank of International Settlements has merely compiled a book report of all Zero Hedge posts not only over the past year, but since our inception.

"That's off topic." -- Some Internet Guy, 1998