StoneFlare

Cutting through the noise with data-driven analysis

Latest Articles

Trade

Real Goods Deficit Jumps 6.7%: March’s Headline Hides a $4.1B Goods Widening

The official trade report dated 2026-05-05 trumpets a “modest” deterioration in the overall deficit to **$60.3 billion (+4.4%)**, but the real story is worse: in 2017 dollars, the **real goods defi...

Employment

Headline 189,000: The 2026-05-04 Claims Release Looks Like Payback, Not a Breakout

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Fed

“Basically Unchanged” Isn’t: The April 1, 2026 Release Reveals a Split Credit Market Hiding in Plain Sight

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Trade

Enforcement Without Teeth? USTR’s April 30 Release Trumpets Action While Delaying Decisions

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Housing

Flat National, Fractured Reality: April 28 FHFA HPI Masks a −1.1% Mountain Drop and a Subtle YoY Re‑acceleration

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s House Price Index release dated **April 28, 2026** led with “unchanged” for February. That framing misses two facts sitting in the same document: a **−1.1%** mo...

Fed

Pro‑Innovation, Missing Guardrails: May 01, 2026 Release Eases Model Rules While Vowing to Prevent Bank Failures

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Manufacturing

ISM’s 52.7 Mirage: May 1 Release Masks Prices at 84.6, 31-Month Job Contraction, and Narrowing Breadth

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Employment

Claims Dive to 189,000, But the Labor Story Doesn’t Budge: What the 2026-04-30 Release Really Says

On April 30, 2026, the Department of Labor’s weekly claims release touted a headline-grabbing drop in seasonally adjusted initial claims to **189,000 (-26,000)**. It sounds like a clean win for lab...