It's the Economy, Networks!
This was a slow and important week for economic data. The main reports that were released were the May New Home Sales Report and May Existing Home Sales Report, as well as the weekly Unemployment Claims Report. The slowness of the data release allowed for an examination of the JOLTS report that was released earlier this month - for the month of April. The slow data week meant that most news networks ignored the reports and focused on the Georgia Special Election for Congressmen Tom Price's old position. The "referendum" on President Trump's Presidency was passed in the President's favor.
(June 22) The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report has started to garner attention during recent months because there is an elevated level of Job Openings. That is less than half the data. This column used to write numerous articles on the "Hire and Fire" data. There is data available for hires, quits, and separations, also known as labor turnover (LT.) "JOLTing Health and Education Jobs Data" details how this past April we had considerable job openings and significant quits in the Health and Education Sector.
(June 22) BREAKING NEWS: They still publish the unemployment claims report. We know return to regular programming. First-time Unemployment claims recorded a drop and reported an increase in numbers. "First-time Unemployment Claims: Down is Up" details how we still have historically low levels of first-time claims and continuing claims. It also reiterated the problem of comparing this data with the data from the 1970s: There are tens of millions more people eligible for benefits than there were during the 1970s. This is like comparing Jackfruit to a peach.
(June 23) The "most important" report of the month is the "Jobs Report." Jobs beget sales. We are a consumption based economy. One of the largest purchases a person will make during his or her life is the purchase of a home. The new home market spurs other sales, including furniture and home furnishings, electronics and appliances, and home and garden sales. The "Great Recession" was a Jobs Recession, a Retail Recession, and a Housing Recession rolled into a Gross Domestic Product Recession. "May Existing Home Sales Rocking, Rolling" details how the average sales price for May set a record high, the number of units sold approached the number of units sold during May 2003. Remember the peak units sold happened during 2005. It also details how we have an existing home inventory shortage.
(June 23) This column has written numerous articles how the number of new homes sold, per month and year, is stuck in the 1980's and 1990s. The article "May New Home Sales; Sales Price Rockets" details how the Average Sales Price for New construction exceeded $400,000 this month." It also details how we also have an inventory shortage in the new construction market.
The business of business news is to cover issues regarding the economy. The obsession of all media sources since the Summer of 2010 has been politics. The media loved covering the debt an deficits when they were hitting a trillion dollars a year. The media loved to cover the unemployment rate while it was over 8% and the weekly unemployment claims data when the first-time unemployment claims were over 300,000. They could explain why the economy was flagging while things were being reported as poor. They are having a harder time explaining the disparity between reality - the unseasonally adjusted world in which their viewers and readers live, and the Fantasyland of Govertment Data - the seasonally adjusted world. This column is based on reality.
It's the economy.