Is having more information always a good thing? It’s generally hailed as such, but, depending on your perspective, the reality may be more complicated.

In the news today, there are several examples of more data leading to changes that, while painful in the short run, should yield long-term positive results.

Returning to the office after 10 days out, I have a lot of reading to catch up on. One benefit of that, though, is being able to connect individual data points for a bigger-picture view.

Employment, in particular, caught my eye this morning. Taken together, a slew of positive employment numbers paint an even better picture. (The employment data here is from various federal sources, as compiled by Ned Davis Research.)

I’ll admit to being a bit out of touch with the markets for the past week, but I did note yesterday’s drop, which we can safely attribute to the increase in oil prices as conflict in Iraq escalates. Like many commentators, I’ve been focusing more on risk out of China and Europe, but the Middle East clearly remains a factor.

Whenever you look at statistics, there are two things to keep in mind:

1. Correlation is not causation.
2. There are three types of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.

Here’s my recap of May’s market and economic news, plus insights on what to expect going forward. 

U.S. equities

U.S. financial markets had a relatively quiet month, with little volatility, except for the Nasdaq, which was down close to 2 percent mid-month. All U.S. equity markets finished May on a strong note, however, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.19 percent, the S&P 500 Index up 2.35 percent, and the Nasdaq up 3.11 percent, despite the mid-month drop.

There’s been a fair bit of commentary lately about the apparent housing slowdown. Possible causes include an absence of buyers, the decline of the investor buyer, low credit scores, and declining affordability.

Do any of these anecdotal problems actually exist? And if so, what effect might they have on the housing market?

Greetings from Norway!

After a great three days in Oslo, we’re on the train stopped at Ål on our way to Flåm, up in the fjord country. Based on my time here so far, Norway is a wonderful place: the people are nice, the scenery spectacular, and the weather terrific (at least this time of year).

This is a bit of a speculative post, as I’m writing it a day ahead of time, before the next set of employment numbers comes out. (I’ll be on a plane to Norway for a family vacation when they do.) I may have to revise or retract some of my thoughts here, but hopefully the main points will survive.

The European crisis isn’t over. This is according to a very authoritative source—the European Central Bank, which just took the almost unprecedented step of instituting a negative interest rate, essentially charging banks to deposit money. For the banks, it really has become a case of using their deposits or slowly losing them.

With no major stories breaking today, let’s discuss a few key themes in the news lately.