March 13, 2023
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’ll be flying the Russian MiG-21, a Cold War icon that was produced in larger numbers than any other supersonic jet fighter in the world. The MiG-21 was produced by the Soviet state design bureau led by Artem Mikoyan (right) and Mikhail Gurevich (left). Founded in 1939, the bureau achieved modest success […]
February 15, 2023
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’ll be flying the Farman F.60 Goliath, the world’s first civilian passenger airplane, on its historic route from Paris to London. And to tell this story, I’m using a mod that recreates the two airports, Le Bourget and Croydon, as they looked in the 1930s. Le Bourget (below) was the […]
February 10, 2023
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’ll be flying the Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny”, the first mass-produced aircraft in America and a favorite of the old-time “barnstormers”. And to help frame the story, I’m at a small dirt airstrip outside of Americus, Georgia in May 1923, where a 21-year-old Charles Lindbergh is buying his first plane – […]
February 6, 2023
At its January-February 2023 meeting, the Federal Reserve’s FOMC announced it was raising the Fed Funds Rate by 25 bps to 4.75%. This was the latest in a series of rate hikes that began in March 2022. The Fed’s statement can be found here. This chart offers a longer-term perspective on the Fed Funds rate, which […]
February 6, 2023
The University of Michigan’s US Consumer Sentiment gauge rebounded +8.7% in December to 64.9, though that is still down -3.4% from a year ago. The Conference Board’s US Consumer Confidence index fell -1.9 points in January to 107.0, and remains noticeably below pre-Covid levels. In January, 20.2% of consumers surveyed by the Conference Board said […]
February 5, 2023
The following are diffusion indices, based on business surveys, which means that >50 indicates expansion and <50 indicates contraction, and 50 indicates no change. A larger or small number indicates breadth, not intensity, among survey respondents. ISM Manufacturing Index fell -1.0 points in January to 47.4, its third month in contraction. While manufacturing employment seems […]
February 4, 2023
U.S. factory orders rose +1.8% m/m in December, up +8.6% from a year ago. Keep in mind these numbers are not adjusted for inflation, and the PCE price index was up +5.0% y/y in December. For Q4 as a whole, orders were flat q/q, up +8.7% from a year before. For 2022 as a whole, […]
February 4, 2023
The US economy added +517,000 jobs in January, blowing away expectations of a +187,000 increase. In addition to the surprise outperformance in January, previous months were revised upwards by +34k in November and +37k in December, for total of +71k. As a result, average job gains over the past three months were +356k per month […]
January 31, 2023
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’m flying the DHC-2 Beaver, the closest thing Canada has to a national airplane. DHC stands for de Havilland Canada. In another post on the Tiger Moth, I mentioned how the British-owned de Havilland company established a Canadian subsidiary, starting in 1928, to manufacture the Moth for the overseas training […]
January 28, 2023
U.S. new homes sales rose +2.3% m/m in December, but were down -26.6% from a year ago. For Q4 as a whole, sales rose +4.4% q/q, down -19.9% from a year before. For 2022 as a whole, sales were down -16.5% from 2021. US existing home sales fell -1.5% m/m in December, down -34.0% from […]