The typical Econbrowser reader might not be surprised at the NBER decision -- but some others will. From a May 2008 WSJ article:

"The data are pretty clear that we are not in a recession," Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Edward Lazear told a meeting of editors and reporters from the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires.

...

"I would be very surprised if the NBER, looking back at this period, would date this as a recession," Mr. Lazear said. There are even indications that revised first-quarter estimates would be slightly stronger than 0.6%. "The optimists seem to have been closer to right on that than the pessimists," he said.

Just to reiterate, that quote is from May 2008.

Here's a picture of GDP and gross domestic income (as suggested by Jim in this post, and noted in the BCDC announcement).

Figure 1: Gross domestic product (blue), and ...

Retail experts are predicting one of the most dismal holiday shopping seasons in decades this year – a crucial stretch that will set the stage for poor retail sales throughout 2009.

As the U.S. economy decelerates, pummeled by the aftershocks of the worldwide financial crisis, consumers have been hit from every direction: Unemployment has spiked, and will continue to rise, economy unwinds and continues to work through the aftershocks of the global credit crisis, consumers have been beset on all sides. Unemployment is up, home prices are down, and credit is hard to come by.

And although inflation is beginning to moderate somewhat – slowing to a pace of 3.7% year-over-year in October – it’s still well above the U.S. Federal Reserve’s desired target rate of 2.0%.

With rampant inflation no longer artificially propping up consumer spending figures, retail sales have really started to lose their

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Editor's Note: The following is a roundup of what others are writing about exchange-traded funds, index mutual funds and indexes. This column is updated throughout the day by IndexUniverse.com's staff.  Suggestions are welcome by sending comments or links to: <!-- var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addy98263 = 'mcoleman' + '@'; addy98263 = addy98263 + 'indexuniverse' + '.' + 'com'; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy98263 ); document.write( '' ); //-->mcoleman@indexuniverse.com. 

 

Look Who's Talkin'

You've heard it all before. But for the uninitiated, we're providing a link to our own Matt Hougan, who was grilled by reporter Trang Ho for this Q&A appearing in Investor's Business Daily on Tuesday.

Hougan comes through, providing what IU.com readers have become accustomed to -- unblinking analysis and fiercely independent commentary on everything relating to ETFs.

You can see

...

GOLD PRICES extended last week's 13% gain early Monday, nearing Wednesday's six-week high of $892 per ounce as the US Dollar tumbled on the foreign exchanges and world stock markets retreated from Friday's "big bail out" surge. Pointing to the US Treasury's plans for a $700 billion "resolution trust" for toxic mortgage-backed securities, "the US Dollar's response last week was further depreciation," notes Walter de Wet at Standard Bank. "That provided support to commodities in general and precious metals specifically." Commodity prices continued to rise sharply in London on Monday, while government bond prices fell back after last week's record jump. Crude oil leapt to breach $106 per barrel. Three-month US Treasury bond yields rose towards 1.00% after reaching an all-time record low of 0.02% last Tuesday. European government bonds also dropped, pushing 6-month yields back above 4.10% in London and Frankfurt as the ...

TapImmune Inc. (TPIM.OB) recently announced that an independent third-party research group published an article in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology confirming that a TapImmune (TAP) vaccine should be considered as a therapy for treating Melanoma based cancer. The National Cancer Institute has forecasted that within the next five years cancer will be ranked as the number one cause of death by illness of Americans.

The company’s TAP vaccine against cancer helps the body move cancer makers to the surface of cells to allow a person’s body to detect and fight the cancerous cells. Initially developed at The University of British Columbia, the preclinical trials for melanoma and lung carcinoma in animal subjects show positive results. A 70% survival rate was achieved in test subjects when using the TAP vaccine therapy, while a 100% survival rate was achieved when the TAP was administered ex-vivo.

The TAP vaccine has also shown success

...

Manufacturing activity in the euro zone contracted for the third straight month in August, as German firms reported shrinking output for the first time in three years. The PMI for the euro zone's factory sector rebounded slightly and  rose to 47.6 in August from 47.4 in July, data from research group Markit Economics showed on Monday, beating expectations for a rise to 47.5. But the measure still indicated that output is shrinking (if a little more slowly)  since a reading above 50 signals growth, while a level below 50 signals contraction.The data showed that Germany and Spain recorded very sharp decreases in export orders, while employment in the currency bloc fell for the third straight month. Price pressures eased somewhat, but remained at high levels, underlining the European Central Bank's dilemma as it tries to balance high inflation levels and slowing growth across the region. Germany's PMI was revised down ...