Economics Update

Scary Pic of the Day: Upcoming Mortgage Resets Courtesy of Dr. Housingbubble

ADP employment services has released its monthly report, and job cuts are way up with 697,000 jobs lost in February as compared to 614,000 jobs lost in January.

Note that the initial January figure was only 522,000, the the final February figures may very look even worse.

We also have the Institute for Supply Management February non-manufacturing numbers, and they are down from January's already anemic figures, and the Federal Reserve's business survey reporting "weaker conditions or declines" in 10 of the 12 regions.

In China, however, the purchasing managers' index rose in February, to 49, which still shows contraction, but only barely, as 50 is neutral.

In real estate, we have mortgage demand falling last week, largely because borrowers are waiting to see what the Obama mortgage rescue plan is.

In commercial real estate, we have a secondary indicator, with office furniture sales falling sharply.

It's no wonder that FDIC Chair Sheila Bair is warning that its insurance fund could be insolvent by years end.

Bank failures, ignoring the biggest ones, is on a pace to close 100 banks this year, as compared to the 27 in 2008 or the 3 in 2007.

We are seeing a spike in consumer bankruptcy filings, up 29% year over year in February.

The Chinese economic news drove oil higher, and bad economic news in Japan drove the dollar up.