It's far too early to tally up the receipts at cash registers over this holiday-shortened week, but when the preliminary results come in they will be anything but festive. Retailers are ...

Chicken Little would be highly pleased with the flow of current events, as it seems that everything in the sky is falling around us. Prices are plunging, interest rates are falling, housing activity is tumbling, jobs are evaporating...

With layoffs mounting on both Wall Street and Main Street, prices on homes and equities tumbling and access to credit virtually shut down, a perfect storm is brewing for households, which is extending and deepening a recession that ...

With this week's proclamation by the National Bureau of Economic Research that the economy has been in a recession since last December, we are reminded of a famous New Yorker cartoon of some years ago. It shows...

Amidst all the gloom and doom surrounding the financial crisis and an ever-weakening economy, it's hard not to be encouraged by the economic team cobbled together by President-elect Obama. If anything...

With each passing day of triple-digit declines in the stock market - notwithstanding Friday's 500 point hiccup to the upside - and multi-firm announcements of huge layoffs, it is becoming increasingly clear ...

Having won a bitterly-fought election, the incoming administration will have little time to bask in the glow of victory. Indeed, the honeymoon may...

It is a generally accepted notion that it takes between twelve and eighteen months for changes in monetary policy to affect the economy. By this timetable...

The stock market continues to ride a wild roller coaster, buffeted by a "once in a century credit tsunami" as former Fed Chairman Greenspan opined before a House committee this week. Not surprisingly...

The financial panic that is generating heart-palpitating swings in stock prices is causing as much confusion and anxiety among American households as...

Until recently, the bursting of the housing bubble caused the most grief among households, as sinking property values took an ever-larger bite out of net worth even as incomes were being squeezed by ...

The turmoil in the financial markets and the political shenanigans surrounding the infamous $700 billion "bailout" bill are overshadowing what is shaping up to be a painful adjustment for the U.S. economy - transitioning from ...

Congress has been busy doing what it does best, creating drama and discord, while failing to do what needs to get done. Nero fiddled while Rome burned. This Congress may be remembered as ...

Investors must be feeling a bit like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy was picked up by a tornado and deposited in a surreal world of munchkins, wizards and witches. Upon awakening...

It appears that a French Revolution-like atmosphere is gripping the financial markets, as investors, traders and speculators are ghoulishly anticipating the ...

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. Change "duck" to "recession", and you get the drift of where this commentary is heading. For the better part of a year...

The stock market ended the week on a downbeat note as Tropical Storm Gustav moved closer to the Gulf of Mexico, threatening to disrupt oil supplies and ...

It was another topsy-turvy week in more ways than one. Yes, stock prices swung one way and then the other, and fixed income investors remain focused on...

As expected, the economy is weaning itself from the rebate-induced boost that gave the second quarter a healthy glow. If incoming data for July is any indication...

The financial markets digested both good and bad news this week, resulting in some wild price swings as investors continued to ponder the eventual course of the U.S. economy. As the latest batch of data indicate...

Is the glass half-full or half-empty? If you're an optimist, there are reasons to view this week's batch of economic data in a positive light. Conversely, if you're a pessimist, the same information could just as ...

The financial markets experienced bouts of pleasure and pain this week, but the painful part seems to have gained the upper hand in investors’ minds. That said...

With a nod to the poet Robert Burns, when it comes to economic forecasting the best-laid plains of policymakers often go awry. Recall that in his semiannual policy report to Congress last February, Fed chairman Bernanke presented a...

With major chain stores reporting solid sales this week, we can't help wondering if the economy is experiencing one of those Wile E. Coyote moments. Over the past several months...

As the economy enters the mid-point of one of the most turbulent years in recent memory, it is approaching a fork in the road that splits into...

The Federal Reserve finds itself in that unenviable position of being “damned if they do, and damned if they don’t”. Hence, it comes as no surprise ...

The drumbeat of inflation fears is growing louder, even as the forces that are supposed to suppress it are getting stronger. This is putting the Fed in an unenviable position, but...

Spend your rebates here! Economists greeted those ubiquitous signs and ads, which seemed to pop up everywhere in recent months, with scorn and derision. And for good reason. By all accounts...

Is the worst over? That's certainly not a question that would have been asked a few months ago, when the still-intensifying ...

With gas prices approaching a national average of $4 a gallon,. home prices still plummeting and credit harder to get, households can be excused for feeling ornery. After all, it cost almost ...

Not since the 1970s has the Fed had to walk as delicate a tightrope as it is now. True, there are as many differences as there are similarities between today's environment and ...

Remember the old Clairol advertising campaign that asked - "Does she or doesn't she?" We're reminded of that teasing question because it was meant to be...

Economists, policy makers and politicians are strongly influenced by economic data, making forecasts, policy decisions and legislation based on their perceptions gleaned from the numbers. The problem is...

Harry Truman used to criticize two-armed economists for their inability to express a decisive opinion. Good thing he isn't around today to witness ...

When the first quarter GDP numbers are released on April 30, it will probably show that the economy changed by ...

In assessing the housing market, we're reminded of a famous line in the third "Godfather" movie, to wit: "Just when I thought I was out...

Given the sparse number of economic reports this week, the "recession watch" has been put on the shelf, at least temporarily. To be sure...

Policy makers are generally loath to mention the "R" word except in an historical context. For Washington denizens, the reason is obvious...

The list of indicators suggesting the economy is in recession keeps growing by the week, making it hard for even the most die-hard optimists to...

Investors hopefully had their seat belts fastened, as the financial markets took one of the most turbulent roller coaster rides in recent memories this week. Over three successive days...

It may not be official, but it clearly is feeling more and more like a recession. Indeed, since last summer, the drumbeat of negative economic tidings has...

Although the financial markets digested a bucketful of economic data this week, all eyes were focused on ....

Besides John McCain, rumors are rampant that another comeback kid is in the house: Stagflation. For those with short memories...

A funny thing happened on the way to a recession – the economy’s main engine, consumers, sputtered back to life in January. The spending CPR may only ...

It’s early in the year, but if the performance of the stock market so far in 2008 is any indication, one of the more reliable predictors of stock prices is about to go ...

For months now, the Cassandras have asserted that the economy is on the precipice of a recession, if not already in one. The problem is...

This time, they are not taking any chances. The “they” of course are the not-always-so-vigilant policymakers who frequently drag their feet when it comes to...

As the books are being closed on 2007, the incoming data for December portray a bleak final chapter to the year. What’s more, the new year’s opening act ...

While it was not a robust week for data, the financial markets digested a bucketful of headlines that portrays an ominous future for the economy. According to a Wall Street Journal survey...

When the economy is downshifting as abruptly as it appears to be, the most rewarding game for optimists is to look for ...