Last week, from Bespoke

March is often an inflection point for the market.  In eight of the past ten years, the market has turned in March, either up or down.  In only two years this decade - 2006 and 2008 - was there no March reversal of some kind.

Simon Johnson speaks the obvious.

Volume today on the NYSE Composite clocked in at 3.79 billion, lowest of the year.  This follows the lightest volume rally since the rebound began, in the month on trend to register the lightest volume month in nearly two years.

Want to be a real contrarian?  Try arguing that there are going to be too many jobs this decade.  That is what the BLS does.

Total employment, a measure of all jobs in the U.S. economy, is projected to increase by 15.3 million over the 2008–18 period, representing a growth rate of 10.1 percent. ...

Canada has long had a love/hate relationship with foreign direct investment (FDI).  FDI brings economic activity and jobs but conjures up fears of foreign takeovers, especially by the United States.

However, FDI is unequivocally good for Canada, according to the Institute for Research on Public Policy.  Via Worthwhile Canadian Initiative.

NAFTA increased wages in all three countries.

What were the welfare e¤ects of NAFTA? Real wages increased in all NAFTA countries and Mexico had the largest gains. Almost 90% of the welfare gains and half of the increase in real wages for Mexico can be attributed to having access to cheaper intermediate goods. Canada and the United States gained relatively more than Mexico from liberalizing against the rest of the world.

From the Economic Cycle Research Institute.