Weekly unemployment claims have probably peaked this cycle. However, initial claims still remain stubbornly high. Here is the Weekly Unemployment Claims Report for the week ending October 17, 2009. In the week ending Oct. 17, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 531,000 ... Read more

Briggs & Stratton (BGG) announced that revenues and profits are off. Big ride on mowers are not selling because people do not have the money. Smaller push mowers are selling because the price points work for cash strapped consumers. Simplistic and begs too many questions. They make this comment ... Read more

If you were worried about all this new money that has been coming into the system and its effects on inflation, you have at least another month (or much longer) before the worries will set in.  At least that is if you trust what the Labor Department said about March’s Producer Price Index.&nb ... Read more

Previously I discussed some of the differences between inflationary and deflationary economic environments. I’d like to pick up where I left off, mention one challenging aspect of deflation, and talk a bit about which environment we’re experiencing. Read the full article ... Read the full ... Read more

Warren Buffett is on CNBC this morning... From the CNBC live blog, a few Buffett comments: Economy is "close to the worst case." Can't imagine it being much worse... The economy "has fallen off a cliff." Buffett says consumers are "scared and confused." He hasn't seen ... Read more

From the Journal of Commerce: Idle Box Fleet Reaches 1.35M TEUs (hat tip Vincent) Idled ocean container capacity on March 2 reached a record 1.35 million TEUs with 453 ships without work as carriers continue to axe services in the face of collapsing cargo volumes and tumbling freight rates across ... Read more

The DOL reports on weekly unemployment insurance claims : In the week ending Feb. 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 623,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 631,000. The 4-week moving average was 607,500, an increase of 24,000 from the ... Read more