How a jobs report broke the looking glass

IN NORMAL TIMES, THE FIRST Friday of the month brings a routine tranche of government data known as the monthly jobs report. The markets react, the politicians preen, and most Americans go about their

A month ago, analysts were predicting that S&P 500 earnings growth for the second quarter would come in at a sluggish 5% year-on-year, says Sam Goldfarb in The Wall Street Journal. The spring period w

If the most prized commodity in the 20th century was oil, in the 21st it is data. It is both our humdrum reality and our anxious obsession. It tracks everything from which online advertisements we are

Did you sell in May and go away this year? I do hope not, because we have often pointed out that seasonal investing is nonsense. The notion that stocks are weaker between May and September is thought

Parents of young children, and pet owners, often start to worry when they have been enjoying an unusually long period of silence. Investors are experiencing a similar sensation. Markets seem calm, wit

A strong earnings season across the Atlantic has shifted the debate a touch