If an iconic motorcycle business is any measure, the world economy isn’t sputtering a bit. And why wouldn’t Harley-Davidson (HOG) results be a telling indicator? Buying a $20,000, 800-pound Hog is discretionary spending in a way that buying a car or a computer isn’t. So the financial update from Harley on Tuesday morning can be seen as good news for the global economy because it said people all over the world are buying more motorcycles. The company’s shipments in the first nine months of 2014 ticked up 5 percent—thanks, in part, to a rash of new models. Japan and Canada were the only places in which Harley sales ... (full story)