St. Louis Fed: Series: TCU, Capacity Utilization: Total Industry

BEA: News Release: Gross Domestic Product

Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — decreased at an annual rate of 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, (that is, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter), according to advance estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP decreased 0.5 percent.

Here’s how the year/year percentage change in GDP and in corporate equipment/software investment looks when charted.

St. Louis Fed: Series: TCU, Capacity Utilization: Total Industry

You can’t make this stuff up.

On Wall Street, his name is legendary. With money he had made as a lifeguard on the beaches of Long Island, he built a trading powerhouse that had prospered for more than four decades. At age 70, he had become an influential spokesman for the traders who are the hidden gears of the marketplace.

But on Thursday morning, this consummate trader, Bernard L. Madoff, was arrested at his Manhattan home by federal agents who accused him of running a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme — perhaps the largest in Wall Street’s history.

St. Louis Fed: FRED GRAPH

St. Louis Fed: Series: TCU, Capacity Utilization: Total Industry

Econoday Report: Personal Income and Outlays  31, 2008

Personal income in September 2008 rose 0.2% from August.  Real personal consumption expenditures (PCE) fell 0.4% and nominal PCE fell 0.3%.  Real disposable personal income (DPI) rose 0.1% and nominal DPI increased 0.2%. The personal savings rate as a percentage of DPI was 1.3% in September.

Economic Indicators.gov

St. Louis Fed: Series: WBAA, Moody’s Seasoned Baa Corporate Bond Yield
Series: WGS10YR, 10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Rate

According to the latest data from the Federal Reserve, Baa corporate bonds are yielding 4.56% more than 10-year Treasuries. The chart below shows this relationship over the last 40+ years.

 12-Month Percent Change in Consumer Price Index

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics