P.J. Harrison's (pjharrison) Blog

Retail Sales measures total receipts at stores that sell tangible "things" and -- aside from weak demand for automobiles and automobile parts -- Retail Sales displayed surprising strength in April.  So much strength, in fact, that many experts are changing their predictions about the U.S. economy...

If you read the papers, go online, or watch television these days, it seems indisputable that the U.S. is in a recession. Some 80% of the American public thinks so, and so do such investment geniuses as George Soros and Warren Buffett.Meanwhile, many strategists and analysts talk about "bear mark...

Each quarter, the Federal Reserve surveys 84 U.S. banks about demand for loan products and general banking conditions. It's like "street reporting"; a pulse of what's really happening behind retail bank walls. Almost always, it paints a different picture of lending from what's being reported on t...