TheVoiceOfJoyce Ignore the data coming out of the Fed and don’t worry about inflation or the job numbers. Gene Marks looks at other data to determine what’s happening in the consumer market. Look at his sources and you’ll find Fed Ex was down 11%, then look at the big box retailers and the grocery stores. The food pantries tell another story. The poor and the middle classes are being squeezed once again. Stop the rate increases and let’s determine where we are. There are other ways to fight inflation.

Posted on by jaslvr

www.theguardian.com/business/2022/oct/30/small-business-us-economy-data

I prefer to closely watch the big box public companies that are actually selling to actual consumers. Retail earnings from big companies like Walmart, Target and Amazon are released by the end of the month following the quarter close. Also look at how FedEx and UPS are doing because they pretty much ship everything made and sold online. FedEx is reporting an 11% decline in shipments last quarter.

If you want a good a barometer of the global economy then there’s nothing better than the Baltic Dry Index. This is an index that measures the cost of shipping through the Baltic Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping corridors. If the index is rising that means a higher demand for freight which means increased shipping activity. Unfortunately, the index is down significantly over the past year.

Leave a Reply