The US stock market has been on a fantastic run in 2018 even though returns are close to the historical average because other markets have seen weakness. As you can see from the chart below, US stocks underperformed last cycle and outperformed this cycle.  Source: Bank Of America Merrill Lynch Some of this relative performanceCONTINUE READING

Weakness in real median income is the backbone of the income inequality debate because if median incomes are increasing people don’t care as much about how well the rich are doing. If people have jobs and are getting raises, they aren’t willing to protest. If they are getting real pay cuts, the rich become aCONTINUE READING

Weakness in real median income is the backbone of the income inequality debate because if median incomes are increasing people don’t care as much about how well the rich are doing. If people have jobs and are getting raises, they aren’t willing to protest. If they are getting real pay cuts, the rich become aCONTINUE READING

The March BLS monthly jobs report was a disappointment in terms of total job creation as only 103,000 were added instead of the 175,000 expected. Furthermore, the report missed the lowest expectation which was for 112,000. It’s important to recognize this is a volatile data point. The February job growth was revised higher from 313,000CONTINUE READING