Economics Update

Well, it looks like 80,000 jobs were lost in March, and the unemployment rate went up to 5.1%, see here, here, and here.

There was good news, at least by the standards of the hacktacular financual press, the ISM's report on non-manufacturing businesses rose, from 49.3 to 49.6, when it was expected to be 48.5.

Note that while the headline on the story speaks of a rebound, it's not. Any number under 50 is a contraction, so the contraction was slower than expected, but it was still a contraction.

Given these numbers it's no surprise that the Federal Reserve is signaling more rate cuts.

It won't work. We need to go Nordic on this problem and nationalize the insolvent institutions, for a time at least.

Give all this information, it should come as no surprise that we are getting reports of skyrocketing vacancies in commercial space, the stuff that all the "experts" said was not going to be a problem.

This is typical. Commercial space lags residential space.

It won't help that Oil is back above $105/bbl.

It also looks like Delphi auto parts may be going under, Appaloosa Management LP is pulling out of a deal to invest 2.55 billion in the manufacturer.

This will leave GM on the hook for a lot, and they may have no parts for their cars.