Economic forecasts have nothing to do with Market Direction

Wise men are instructed in reason men of less understanding by experience; the most unknowing learn by necessity. Wise men do in the beginning what fools in the end. Anonymous
Trying to gauge where the economy is headed is almost always a waste of time; other than pouring over seams of data and losing a large dose of time, you will be none the wiser. If this activity were indeed useful then almost all Economists would be millionaires; sadly, they are not. They are usually working for large multi-million or billion dollar corporations, who can afford to hire them to come out with these silly scenarios that they do noteven believe in; it is not by coincidence that economics is referred to as the ‘dismal science.’
Most successful businesses do not waste time trying to figure where the economy is headed; they are looking at what they have to do to improve their business. In today’s age of hot money, there are two options on the table. Work hard and try to produce a better product or come out with something new that will replace an older product or service and offer it at a better price. The second option, borrow large sums of money and buy back your shares and magically improve your EPS, without doing anything extra. A large number of corporations are focussing on the second option as it is a very easy for corporate officers to reap to great bonuses without doing anything.
Naysayers would rant of a list of negative developments, some of which are listed below; but despite these developments the market has continued to soar higher.

This post was published at GoldSeek on 6 September 2016.