Real After-Tax Profits Reach New Record High in Q4

Mark J. Perry submits: Corporate profits after tax (unadjusted) reached a new record high in the first quarter of 2011 of almost $1.5 trillion.

Mark J. Perry submits: The Census Bureau reported today that U.S. consumers set a new all-time monthly record by spending $381.5 billion on retail and food services in January.

By Hard Assets Investor: By Sumit Roy It was a year of many records for the gold market. No, gold prices didn't reach an absolute record high in 2012 as some had forecast, but it was still a year of many records for the gold market, according to the World Gold Council's latest Demand Trends report. In fact, gold prices averaged $1,722 during the last three months of the year, the WGC said. That's a record quarterly price.

Mark J. Perry submits: From today's BLS employment report:

Mark J. Perry submits: Today's disappointing BLS employment report reflects a fairly weak job market and a continuation of the "jobless recovery" that will likely continue well into 2011, maybe even into 2012.

Executives at Canada’s largest banks have been stuck on repeat, telling investors about their efforts to cut and control costs. Starting a week Tuesday and through early December, this chorus “will reach a crescendo” when the banks report earnings for the last time this fiscal year, analysts at Scotia Capital said in a note.

By Mark J. Perry: (click to enlarge) The CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis released its monthly report today on world trade and world industrial production for the month of November 2013. Here are some of the highlights of that report: