Thursday -- January 7, 2016

Circumstantial evidence that raising the minimum wage in Washington, DC, has resulted in a loss of restaurant jobs.

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CO2 Now

Link here (dynamic): 401.85.

No evidence of warming for 20 years.

November, 2015: 400.16 ppm.

401.85 - 400.16 = 1.69 / 1,000,000 units.

1.69 / 1,000,000 in percentage = a 0.000169% change. Those are pretty sensitive measuring instruments. And, of course, not independently verified, but just quibbling. 

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GDP Now

GDP Now, as of January 6, 2016:

The GDPNow model forecast for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the fourth quarter of 2015 is 1.0 percent on January 6, up from 0.7 percent on January 4.

The forecast for the contribution of net exports to fourth-quarter real GDP growth increased 0.2 percentage points to -0.2 percentage points after this morning's international trade report from the U.S. Census Bureau.

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Natural Gas Could Be Eating Solar's Lunch, As They Say On Wall Street

Earlier today, or was it yesterday, Elon Musk announced his solar company was "quitting" Nevada, the sunniest state in the lower 48(?).

Now, SunEdison is in the news. Reported from many venues, this is from BusinessInsider:

SunEdison, a solar-manufacturing company, fell 35% on Thursday after the company announced that it intends to raise money and restructure its debt in order to pay back $738 million.

Now, you may be thinking, "Debt reduction ... that's a good thing."
Well, like many things in life, the devil is in the details.

In order to raise this money, SunEdison will be restructuring old loans at a much higher rate and issuing a bunch of stock. Investors' worst fear about the stock is real. SunEdison is cash poor.

If it wasn't, the company wouldn't have to raise money on terms that sounds like this (emphasis ours):

The Second Lien Facilities will be comprised of $500 million of A1 loans, and $225 million of A2 loans, each of which will bear interest at a rate of LIBOR + 10.0% per annum and will mature on July 2, 2018. 

I supposed when shares fall 35% it's considered a "correction."

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Venezuela -- Tick, Tick, Tick

I'm not going to post the links. Let's just say things are getting a bit hot in Venezuela. Stories will be reported everywhere by tomorrow. OPEC oil slid below $30 for the first time in 12 years today.