Not much resembling good news this week...
Retail Sales took it on the chin with the lowest Redbook reading I've seen at -6.9%
The assorted Fed reports are bad to dismal. Empire State Mfg, from the arguable epicenter of US Covid at -78.2.
Durable goods at -14.4.
Hard to call Jobless Claims of 4.4+ million good news, but it certainly is an improvement.
Consumer Sentiment seems to have leveled at a low point.
Home Prices actually showed some strength, but that was in Feb. Existing home sales showed a minor drop.
With some states beginning opening up for business, we may start seeing some improvement in the near term, but can't go better than an overall D for the current numbers.
Thanks very much Tim for all the work that you put into this. I had to smile at the F+ And think of how, in a different realm it would be very revealing.
With a grading scale, let’s say that F was the lowest grade and anything under 60% was an F.
That’s a wide range of values from 0 to 59 and a huge difference in performance. A student that flunked a test with an F who got 10% was completely clueless compared to one that got 59% and got over half the questions/problems right......but they both had the same grade and just looking at it and knowing nothing else would not tell us if they were clueless.
A student with an F+, however, was at least at 60% and not clueless and within striking distance of higher grades just above.
A 10%, could increase their score by 40% and its still an F.
A 60% that increases their score by 40% has a perfect score!