When the President was asked about Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election, with President Putin next to him, he said he did not see how it was Russia. He revised his comment to say that he meant to say that he could not see how it wasn't Russia. A double negative. It is hard to believe that so many people are going off the rails regarding the White House drama and forgetting that "it's the economy.
(July 16) The week started with an article regarding the Monthly and Annual Retail Trade Survey (MARTS) Retail data. The MARTS forecast article projected monthly drops in sales for all categories except gasoline and Sporting Goods/Hobby/Books (SGHB.) It was though that we might see June to June increases in all sectors except SGHB and Electronics/Appliances (EA.) "June Retail Data: Another Record Month: detailed how the SGHB and EA had been recently revised, how all sectors saw a drop in sales from May to June (There wasn't a holiday other than Father's Day during June,) that ALL sectors saw improvement from June 2017, and how we had our sixth consecutive monthly record for sale. We are in a Retail Renaissance. This means that people must be buying a ton of Russian Dressing and Vodka at the grocery stores and at restaurants.
(July 17) Tuesday this column published an article "June Real Estate Forecast: Building Upward Momentum." It was projected that the recent momentum we have had should continue to push new home starts, units under construction, completions, and sales to higher levels. We are still recovering from the Housing Recession. It was projected that the existing home sales could jump much higher, the final day of June is traditionally the busiest closing day of the year, even as existing home inventory could remain at an all-time low for the current month. You might say that it was anticipated that builders might be "Rushing" to get things built so they could accommodate the "Rush" to buy homes this year.
(July 17) The June Jobs Report was released the first Friday of July. This column write numerous articles regarding the data found in the report. WE set a record level of weekly wages for the month of June in ALL sectors. "June Record Weekly Wages Ignored" revealed that while we did not have the highest average hourly wage ever, we did have the highest average weekly wage for the month of June and every sector set June average weekly wage records. It must be a Russian Conspiracy to keep Donal Trump in office through 2024.
(July 18) The June New Construction data was released this Thursday. If there were any comment made, they were made after they "rushed" to judgement. The starts data was slightly weaker this month than expected. The interesting thing is that even with a weak June they number of starts is up to the highest point in June since 2008. Under Construction data improved from last June. Completions were solid this month and weaker than last year, year to date. The "New Construction Data Continues to Improve."
(July 19) The data that is summarily ignored on a weekly unemployment claims data, first-time and continuing claims. The non-seasonally adjusted first time claims for the second week of July since July 13, 1968. The Continuing Claims data trails the first-time claims data by one week. The non-seasonally adjusted (SA) continuing claims (CC) data was the lowest for the first week of July 1988 and was lower than the NSA CC value for July 3, 1971. A follower on Twitter said that I should say that the Russians are forcing Trump to "Putin" people back to work. I decided to write about "TDS: Trump De-unemployment Syndrome."
The economy is serious business. If the media wasn't so obsesses with labeling President Trump as a traitor, someone engaged in treasonous behavior because he met with President Putin," something Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Chuck Schumer have all done, Maybe President Trump should change his rally them e song to "Putin' on the Ritz."
It's the economy.