In the first Big Picture topic this week, “The Coming Obama Recession”, Jim addresses the growing signs of a slowdown in the economy; the latest of which was a very poor jobs number released on Friday. Jim and John discuss the employment trends, and note the downtrend in temp employment, which is worrisome. Jim also looks at Fed policy, and the economic implications if the Fed raises interest rates this summer despite a weakening economy. The next topic on the Big Picture is “The Fear Is Back”. It’s amazing how quickly oil projections can turn around. Early in the year, there were calls for $10 oil, but the market bounced off mid-$20 oil, and now it is nearly $50 a barrel. People don’t realize that 65% of oil reserves are located in the most volatile areas of the world. With just a few market disruptions in key oil producing areas, both volatility and the price of oil are on the rise again.
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