In our January 7th comment, “The Other Shoe” we analyzed the weak employment and manufacturing reports for the month of December and their impact on the U.S. economy in 2008 and Fed action on interest rates near term. Since then the Fed has cut interest rates not once but twice aggregating 1.25%, lowering the key Fed funds rate to 3%.  As we noted in our article, the weakness in employment and manufacturing were key props to the economy whose removal would increase the chances of a U.S. recession in the first half of this year.

 On Friday, the Labor ... Log in to view full article.