Since Donald Coxe’s departure from BMO towards the end of last year, I have been inundated with enquiries about whether his much-revered “Basic Points” research reports would still be published. The good news is that Donald is planning on resuming these reports, and a new issue may very well appear later this month.

In the meantime, Donald has also resumed his weekly audio commentaries, which can be accessed by clicking here or on his image in the right-hand sidebar of this site.

The latest recording was made on February 6 (althought the webcast site incorrectly mentions January 30). A full transcript of this recording was produced and is shared with you in the paragraphs below (courtesy of Green

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We should see Wall Street start off with a nice rally this morning, though I won't place a bet on where the day ends. Markets are terribly oversold and yesterday's action ended in a bullish reversal on high volume at support -- that's VERY bullish.And yet we seem to get more terrible news all the time ...BAD NEWS FOR THE CONSUMER ...

Auto sales plunge

June auto sales plunged, according to reports from the nation's major automakers, as Americans shunned pickups and SUVs in the face of record gas prices. General Motors reported that its U.S. sales fell 18% in June versus a year ago. Sales of GM's light trucks, which includes pickups, SUVs and so-called crossovers, tumbled 16%. GM's car sales dropped 21% in the month.

BAD NEWS ON INFLATION ...

Manufacturers struggle to overcome rising prices

NEW YORK - Each week, Ira Cooper opens

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by James Hamilton As noted by Calculated Risk, global warming or no, the spring selling season for new homes never seemed to arrive this year. There is a strong seasonal component to new home sales. In a typical year, the number of homes sold each month in March through May would be 40% higher than in December. Nine years out of 10, the rate would be at least 20% higher. This year? Only 9%. And December 2007 was itself down 38% from December 2006 and down 50% from December 2005. Why no spring? This graph from Peter Hooper may have something to do with it. Source: Hooper (2008) Technorati Tags: macroeconomics, housing, recession, economics

In “Ethanolics Anonymous” what does guest blogger Jerry Bowyer cite as a driver of the ethanol trend?
God and guns politics have become a key part of the GOP political plan, and that means dependence on farm country….

Global warming has become the central apocalyptic tale of the secular left, and minimizing your carbon footprint is its moral imperative….

Our policy is madness.

That looks like “all of the above” to me.