As I and others keep detailing, no one knows what to believe about the state of the US labor market because the official statistics keep getting revised and just seem completely untrustworthy. So no one was really surprised when the Job Openings and Labor Turnover report for September was released with some, well, surprising numbers. After last month’s higher than expected number of job openings, September supposedly had a massive decline, almost 500,000, which would have been even higher but the August numbers were, guess what, revised down. Hires were up somewhat, but quits also declined, which is said to reflect difficulty in finding a different job. (BLS Release)
After two bad auctions, yesterday we saw a pretty good seven-year note US debt sale. $44 billion was sold at an interest rate of 4.22%, below projections but well above the rate paid last month. Rates on US debt are a little whipsawed by concerns about supply, the election and spending plans of the candidates and perceptions of the state of the economy. (ZH Post)
The BEA this morning released the initial estimate for third quarter GDP growth, at 2.8% down from last quarter and slightly below expectations. Government spending continues to be an outsized contributor to growth. Personal consumption remains high, but consumers are clearly stretched. (BEA Release)
How bad is inflation, has it really subsided? The typical government indexes ignore important factors like interest paid on mortgages, car loans and other debt. Those rates have risen rapidly. House insurance isn’t included, which everyone knows is increasing. And as I have pointed out, the way medical and health insurance prices are calculated is ludicrous. A more realistic view of inflation for ordinary people may be found at the Everyday Price Index website. (EPI Site)
