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Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Crimson Ghost who wrote (45551)	1/31/2006 12:42:35 PM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

The End of an Era plus Letters to the Investment Committee VI Jeremy Grantham, Chairman gmo.com A highly recommended read. For some reason SI does not pick that up as a link You will have to snip it Mish

To: Crimson Ghost who wrote (45551)	1/31/2006 12:58:59 PM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

Wages and benefits paid to civilian workers rose last year by the smallest amount in nine years, the government reported Tuesday. The Labor Department said that employee compensation was up 3.1 percent in 2005, an increase that was slower than the 3.7 percent rise in 2004. The slowdown reflected a big drop in benefit costs — items such as health insurance and pensions — which rose by 4.5 percent last year after jumping by 6.9 percent in 2004. Total compensation rose by 0.8 percent from October through December, matching the increase in the July-September period. The increase in benefits slowed to a rise of 1.1 percent, compared to a 1.3 percent increase in the third quarter. Wages rose by 0.8 percent in the fourth quarter. That was up from a 0.6 percent increase in the third quarter and marked the fastest quarterly rise in nearly three years. Many analysts said the Fed would likely not be unduly concerned about the rise in wages in the fourth quarter. "Companies continue to control labor costs very well," said Joel Naroff, head of Naroff Economic Advisors, a private consulting firm. "Labor is by far the largest cost for most firms and in a globalized economy, to remain competitive, companies must control their costs." Yahoo News tinyurl.com

To: Crimson Ghost who wrote (45551)	1/31/2006 1:17:31 PM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

"MetroStudy's fourth-quarter analysis of the area said listings of all types of housing for sale have doubled since July and new-home inventory for sale has jumped from 6.6 months of supply to 12.2 months. But much of that jump is due to the flood of condos. 'If you remove the thousands of condominium units that are being built in Arlington County, Va., housing inventories drop to a much more reasonable 7.6 month supply.'" washingtonpost.com