LAST WEEK

News & Commentary Weekly Highlights:

• Market Watch: Don’t Blame Yourself; Retirement Crisis Stems from Bad Policies Not Bad Habits(Thursday)
• Bloomberg Business: Short of Workers and Consumers, China Abandons One-Child Policy (Thursday)
• Wall Street Journal: Fed Keeps December Rate Hike in Play (Wednesday)
• Forbes: Examining Plummeting Obamacare Enrollment Projections (Monday)
• Wall Street Journal: The Fed Has Hurt Business Investment(Monday)

 

Top Economic Indicator Highlights:

Personal Income and Outlays (September)

• Personal Income (change M/M): $18.6 billion,% Change: 0.1%
• Consumer Spending (change M/M): $15.6 billion, % Change:0.1%
• PCE Price Index: -0.1%, Year-on-year: 0.2%
• Core PCE Price Index: 0.1%, Year-on-year: 1.3%
• Noteworthy: Wages and salaries decreased $3.7 billion in September, and in particular, private wages and salaries decreased $7.0 billion. Supplements to wages and salaries increased $3.3 billion.

 

THIS WEEK

Upcoming Economic Reports & Releases:

Major Indicators

• Institute for Supply Management Manufacturing Index (10am, Monday)
• Construction Spending (10am, Monday)
• Motor Vehicle Sales (Tuesday)
• Factory Orders (10am, Tuesday)
• International Trade (8:30am, Wednesday)
• Institute for Supply Management Non-Manufacturing Index (10am, Wednesday)
• Productivity and Costs (8:30am, Thursday)
• Employment Situation (8:30am, Friday)
• Consumer Credit (3pm, Friday)

 

Chart of the Week: 

The chart above shows the share of mandatory spending, including interest on the debt (in shades of red), and discretionary spending, as a share of total revenue for 2015, and ten years hence, in 2025. As is shown, mandatory spending and debt interest together consume 77% of revenue in 2015 and 92% of revenue in 2025. Based on current CBO projections, adding discretionary spending would exceed revenue in both of the selected years, and by an even greater amount in 2025.