The popular definition of an economic recession has traditionally been “two consecutive quarters of negative real gross domestic product (GDP) growth”, but economists at Bank of America’s Global Research team aren’t expecting an official ‘recession’ call anytime soon. They note that the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), which is the official arbiter of recessions, doesn’t use that “popular definition”.
While the trendlines continue to slope downward, we will continue to use any rallies to raise cash, reduce risk, and rebalance allocations accordingly. We will continue focusing on keeping market losses relatively small until the slope of the red channel flattens out and the bottoming process can begin. We trust our market indicators to help us determine market direction and guide us in our measured response to changing market conditions
It’s not just housing—the average transaction price of new vehicles sold in June hit a new stratospheric record high of $45,844, up 14% from a year ago. As automakers continue to struggle with shortages of key parts and semiconductors in particular, inventories remain near historic lows.
It turns out that Americans spend more on pharmaceuticals than any other country in the world—and not just more—a lot more. The OECD reported the average American spends $1376 per year on medications, while Sweden spends just $540.
For much of the last 14 months, the economic headlines have been all about inflation and the 40-year highs we have been consistently seeing now for many months. What’s now starting to be seen and shown by recent earnings reports and forward guidance from retail giants Walmart and Target, is that an inventory bullwhip effect is taking place that will have a deflationary impact on certain consumer goods.
After 27 years, Microsoft’s support for its once dominant internet browser ‘Internet Explorer’ (IE) has come to an end. At one point, IE’s market share was estimated to be as high as 90%.And while Microsoft has tried to push its current browser “Edge”, it’s had little success there as well—currently holding only about 4% of market share.