Results 1 to 3 of 3

Thread: Some Good News (for a change)

  1. #1
    God/dess threlayer's Avatar
    Joined
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Syracuse
    Posts
    5,921
    Thanks
    369
    Thanked 419 Times in 290 Posts
    My Mood
    Fine

    Default Some Good News (for a change)

    This from the WSJ....

    • SEPTEMBER 9, 2010, 8:53 A.M. ET

    U.S. Trade Gap Narrows

    By TOM BARKLEY And IAN TALLEY


    The U.S. trade deficit contracted sharply in July, posting its biggest drop in 17 months as exports of airplanes surged and U.S. demand for imports fell across the board.
    Meanwhile, in an optimistic sign for labor conditions, the number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week by a lot more than economists expected.
    The U.S. deficit in international trade of goods and services narrowed by 14% to $42.78 billion from a downwardly revised $49.76 billion the month before, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The June trade gap was originally reported as $49.90 billion.
    U.S. exports expanded 1.8% to $153.33 billion, the highest level since August 2008, from $150.57 billion in June. Imports registered their biggest decline since February of last year, falling 2.1% to $196.11 billion from $200.33 billion in June.
    The deficit reduction, which followed three straight months of gains, was much bigger than expected. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had predicted a $47 billion trade gap.
    The U.S. trade deficit with China also declined, to $25.92 billion from $26.15 billion in June.
    Still, the improvement in the trade gap with China is unlikely to quiet calls for action by U.S. lawmakers against what they claim to be unfair trade practices by the country, including its tightly managed currency policy.
    (more... from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj)
    I loved going to strip clubs; I actually made some friends there. Now things are different for the clubs and for me. As a result I am not as happy.

    Customers are not entitled to grope, disrespect, or rob strippers. This is their job, not their hobby, and they all need income. Clubs are not just some erotic show for guys to view while drinking.

    NOTE: anything I post here, outside of a direct quote, is my opinion only, which I am entitled to. Take it for what you estimate it is worth.

  2. #2
    God/dess threlayer's Avatar
    Joined
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Syracuse
    Posts
    5,921
    Thanks
    369
    Thanked 419 Times in 290 Posts
    My Mood
    Fine

    Default Re: Some Good News (for a change)

    It's just a news blip. It will change for the better and for the worse over the next months. Yes, I already know that someone here will tell us how this is not what it seems but something entirely different -- bad news of course.
    I loved going to strip clubs; I actually made some friends there. Now things are different for the clubs and for me. As a result I am not as happy.

    Customers are not entitled to grope, disrespect, or rob strippers. This is their job, not their hobby, and they all need income. Clubs are not just some erotic show for guys to view while drinking.

    NOTE: anything I post here, outside of a direct quote, is my opinion only, which I am entitled to. Take it for what you estimate it is worth.

  3. #3
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
    Joined
    Jul 2002
    Location
    way south of the border
    Posts
    25,932
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked 10,563 Times in 4,646 Posts
    Blog Entries
    3
    My Mood
    Cynical

    Default Re: Some Good News (for a change)

    I would really like to wait another week before commenting so that the Labor Day holiday motivated use of 'estimates' could be confirmed or denied, however ...



    (snip)"A Sign of Hope for the Economy?

    After weeks of what felt like daily reports telling us that the economic recovery has stalled, the government reported today that the trade deficit shrunk in July, and that the drop was largely due to a surge in exports of American-made goods, like commercial planes, fuel oil and gold. So maybe -- just maybe -- the trade deficit, of all the economic indicators out there, could be a sign that the U.S. economy is actually doing better? Nigel Gault, the chief US economist with IHS Global Insight weighs in.

    For the past few weeks, we've had one bad report after another. But this report on trade -- some good news there, maybe?

    It's nice to get a better-than-expected report for a change. We did have a nice bounce up in exports. It was a very, very good month for aircraft exports. And we also saw a big decline in imports after a huge surge at the end of last quarter, which really hurt second-quarter growth. We've now got a big, big drop back in imports, and that's also good news.

    So exports growing, what specifically does that tell you?

    I think it's telling us that there's still pretty decent growth in the rest of the world, particularly in the emerging markets, and that is fueling overall growth in world trade. I think it's also telling us that, if we look at the value of the dollar in an historical perspective, the dollar is pretty competitive. So that allows the US to take advantage of some of this global growth.

    Now how about jobs -- could we possibly see more jobs created from these exports?

    I think if you think long-term, export growth is going to be an important source of jobs. In the short-term, unfortunately, we didn't get a lot of this extra export growth in the manufacturing sector, just out of extra productivity rather than creating new jobs. But I think it will be an important job channel going forward.

    Keeping that mind, for the second week in a row, the number of people filing for unemployment fell from the previous week. How good is this news, or was there something behind this drop?

    There are a couple of things here. These numbers are very volatile from week to week. The latest week, some of those numbers were just estimated. Some states didn't submit numbers because of the Labor Day holiday. So we'll have to wait another week to see if this drop gets confirmed."(snip)


    In other words, on the export side of the equation, the lion's share of the 'improvements' are attributable to a single source i.e. increased exports of US built commercial aircraft to foreign buyers. This is arguably the result of two things - a weakening of the US dollar's international exchange rate ( making purchases from Boeing in USD versus Airbus in EURO less expensive in terms of Vietnamese Dong or Korean Won ), and cost reduction measures by US aircraft manufacturers allowing quoted price reductions ( i.e. relocation of Boeing jobs from expensive California and Washington to lower cost South Carolina and Oklahoma, for example ). See

    on the import side of the equation ...



    (snip)"On Thursday, economists expect the Commerce Department to report the deficit on international trade in goods and services was $47.2 billion in July. That is lower than the $49.9 billion registered in June, because many analysts expect stagnating wages are slowing import demand."(snip)

    ... with the basic transation of the last sentence being that many Americans at the lower end of the income scale are now being forced to cut back on purchases of non-essential items at WalMart ( which is arguably supported by a recent flattening in WalMart same store sales numbers ) !


    I would also add that another significant factor on the 'export' side of the equation was increased purchases of gold by foreign buyers. This implies a pandora's box full of future implications re the US economy / US dollar / US Treasury bonds that I won't attempt to open in this thread. What I will say is that the sale of US gold involves a whole lot of dollar value being assigned to the metal itself and very little dollar value being assigned to US mining and refining businesses.


    So it is indeed true that the US trade gap narrowed recently. As to whether or not that constitutes 'reason for hope' that the US economy is improving is arguably highly dependent on where one is sitting, and whether or not one chooses to look 'under the hood' for the reasons behind the data !!!

Similar Threads

  1. Some good news.
    By X Evan X in forum The Lounge
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 12-12-2009, 07:34 PM
  2. economic 'bad news' that's good news to me ...
    By Melonie in forum Dollar Den
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 03-07-2008, 04:03 PM
  3. timely news release from NASA re climate change...
    By Melonie in forum Member Boards
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 03-21-2007, 09:20 AM
  4. Some good news for once.
    By big_daddy in forum The Lounge
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 01-12-2007, 10:08 PM
  5. Bad News is Good News By Robert Kiyosaki
    By GoldCoastGirl in forum Dollar Den
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 09-03-2004, 11:32 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •