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.

Record net inflows of $41.13 billion and strong market performance in July helped U.S. listed ETF and ETP assets reach $1.535 trillion, a new record high, according to ETFGI's recent Global ETF and ETP industry insights report. There were 1,491 ETFs/ETPs, from 55 providers listed on 3 exchanges in the U.S. at the end of July 2013."Dovish comments from the Fed and positive market performance encouraged investors to put net inflows of US$41.13 billion back into the market through ETFs/ETPs" according to Deborah Fuhr, Managing Partner at ETFGI.