Let the gnashing of teeth begin.
Looks Like Benjamin Netanyahu won, again.
by coldwarrior ( 91 Comments › )Filed under Israel, Open thread, Politics at April 10th, 2019 - 3:14 am
A Tale of Two Packages
by coldwarrior ( 57 Comments › )Filed under Economy, Open thread, Transportation at April 7th, 2019 - 9:57 am
A Tale of Two Packages
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only
But I digress.
Back to the main story, Dickens can wait. I ordered two items on the same day within minutes of each other, one was shipped from India, the other from England. The Indian package went DHL the other Royal Air Mail (USPS equivalent of Priority or FEDEX 2 day air). The Indian package shipped from Mumbai a day earlier and made it to the UK within 16 hours of the order. Both left London on the same day within an hour of each other. As Dickens would say, it was the spring of hope…to receive these packages within 72 hours of ordering and one from the other side of the planet no less!
The DHL package was delivered within 72 hours. Amazing. I had it in my hands on Thursday. And…well…the package being handled by USPS that left London and arrived in NYC within minutes fo the DHL package…well, it left La Guardia within an hour of the DHL package on Wednesday…yet now it sits in the main Post Office Distro Center 7 miles from here, it’s Sunday. It was in the hands of USPS Wednesday 530 miles from here. NYC to PGH is an overnight ground sort with a hub stop in the middle of PA, I know, I worked for UPS and FEDEX back in the day. It’s mindlessly easy.
So…private competitive industry gets a package here form the other side of he world in 72 hours for a nominal fee. For that same fee, the USPS (government) cant get a package 530 miles from one major urban center to another in 5 days…the winter of despair and incompetence…and some folks want the Government to run EVERYTHING.
Enjoy yinz’s Sunday, N’at!
A Crack in the Left Coast’s Liberal Armor
by coldwarrior ( 97 Comments › )Filed under Democratic Party, Open thread at April 4th, 2019 - 12:54 am
Monday Markets Open
by coldwarrior ( 80 Comments › )Filed under Economy, Open thread at April 1st, 2019 - 8:01 am
U.S. stock futures rallied early on Monday as strong manufacturing data out of China eased worries of a possible global economic slowdown.
At around 7:10 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a gain of 172 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indexes were also in positive territory.
A private survey showed the country’s manufacturing activity expanded unexpectedly in March, at its fastest pace in eight months. The figures gave some much-needed relief to investors unnerved of late by fears of a global economic downturn. Early last week, equities came under pressure as bond markets indicated an impending U.S. recession.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note recently dipped below that of the 3-month bill, in what’s known as a yield curve inversion. A yield curve inversion is seen as a trusted predictor of a recession. (my note: Right now the yield on the 3 month bond is 2.416, the yield on the 10 is 2.85, therefore there is no need to even mention last weeks hiccup as the inversion was not sustained. But, Lord knows, we can’t let Trump have any credit. I suppose, it was the only negative econ news that I have seen in a long while, so they had to glom onto it without fully understanding what it is or how it works)
Monday’s gains came after the S&P 500 notched last week its best start to a year since 1998 and its strongest quarterly performance since 2009. The broad index gained 13.1 percent in the first quarter, led by the technology sector.
the markets are a leading indicator. When the market thinks things are good, the market goes up, it goes down when the market thinks that bad things are coming or are happening.
Hence:
Monday is a busy day on the data front, with U.S. retail sales, manufacturing numbers, construction spending and business inventories due to be released.
The markets would not be up if they expected bad numbers
