This Retailer Bankruptcy Will Lead to the Largest Liquidation by Store Count in the US. Liquidation Sales to Start Next Week by Wolf Richter • Feb 15, 2019 • 26 Comments Brick-and-Mortar Meltdown for its new shareholders: All of them PE firms.
Just How Huge Are Mexico’s Auto Export to the US? How Fast Have they Grown? by Don Quijones • Feb 15, 2019 • 16 Comments GM’s Mexico vehicles now are 23% of its US sales. And the Japanese have massively discovered Mexico’s cheap labor.
Worried about Costs & Slowdown? Amazon Scuttles HQ2 Altogether, Plunges NY City Real Estate Industry “Into Despair” by Wolf Richter • Feb 14, 2019 • 130 Comments Prudent cost-cutting move artfully dressed up as response to local politicians that had railed against the $3-billion corporate welfare package.
Why I’m Not in Panic Just Yet over the “Dreadful” Retail Sales that “Fell Most Since 2009,” But Nervously Look at the Trend by Wolf Richter • Feb 14, 2019 • 52 Comments Consumer exuberance maxed out last summer and has since changed direction.
Reverse Sticker Shock? No Inflation for New Vehicles for 22 Years, Says Consumer Price Index, as Taurus Prices Soared 55% by Wolf Richter • Feb 13, 2019 • 104 Comments But then there’s the “average transaction price.”
Mortgage Applications Drop Despite Lower Mortgage Rates: Industry is Baffled by Wolf Richter • Feb 13, 2019 • 62 Comments The hope in early January has been unwound.
Subprime Arrives: Auto-Loan Delinquencies Spike to Great Recession Levels by Wolf Richter • Feb 12, 2019 • 97 Comments “A development that is surprising during a strong economy and labor market”: New York Fed
Bond Funds Are “Potential Source of Financial Instability,” after Years of Global QE and Low Interest Rates: Fitch by Wolf Richter • Feb 11, 2019 • 45 Comments “Liquidity issues at bond mutual funds could result in wider contagion and affect other parts of the financial system and the macro economy.”
Liquidity in New York City’s Housing Market Dries Up by Wolf Richter • Feb 11, 2019 • 80 Comments 52% of the homes listed for sale last spring still have not sold. For sellers, “the situation calls for a clear strategy: cut prices.”
THE WOLF STREET REPORT by Wolf Richter • Feb 10, 2019 • 80 Comments The New Battle-to-the-Death in the Auto Industry.
Carmageddon for Tesla Model 3: US Deliveries Plunge 55% to 60% from Q4, Laid-off Delivery Employees tell Reuters by Wolf Richter • Feb 9, 2019 • 119 Comments Pent-up demand for high-priced luxury cars in the era of Carmageddon is a tricky thing, especially when tax credits phase out.
The State of the American Debt Slaves, Q4 2018 by Wolf Richter • Feb 8, 2019 • 121 Comments Consumers are doing their job only in a lackadaisical manner. But the student-loan scheme is hot.
Spanish Grocery Giant Unveils Big Losses, Teeters on Brink of Bankruptcy, after Allegations of Accounting Fraud by Don Quijones • Feb 8, 2019 • 18 Comments What could this mean for one of its big creditors, the ECB?
Fed’s QE Unwind Reaches $434 Billion, Remains on “Autopilot” by Wolf Richter • Feb 7, 2019 • 51 Comments Getting rid of MBS faster and shifting to short-term Treasury bills will be on the list.
German Industrial Production Falls the Most Since 2009. New Orders Plummet by Wolf Richter • Feb 7, 2019 • 45 Comments Q4 is falling apart before everyone’s astonished eyes, and a “technical recession” beckons.
Phenomenal Trucking Boom Ends, Trucking Bust Starts by Wolf Richter • Feb 6, 2019 • 56 Comments So that U-turn was fast, even for the legendarily cyclical trucking business.
Mexico’s Cash Cow: Remittances from the US & Other Countries Surge to New Record by Don Quijones • Feb 6, 2019 • 36 Comments These workers are a lifeline for Mexico.
Oops: Low Interest Rates a “Factor” in Slowdown of Economic & Productivity Growth: NBER by Wolf Richter • Feb 5, 2019 • 83 Comments Powell, Draghi, Kuroda, et al.: Did ya see this NBER study?
New Trucks are Hot, Prices Surge. But Cars Face Carmageddon. And Total Sales Fall by Wolf Richter • Feb 5, 2019 • 91 Comments Americans love paying big profit margins for big equipment, and automakers love them for it, but total sales are declining, and something doesn’t add up.
QE Party Goes Dry, Bank of Japan Tries to Confuse the Markets by Wolf Richter • Feb 4, 2019 • 65 Comments During the selloff in Dec., the BOJ shed $31 billion. But in Jan., it piled on.
THE WOLF STREET REPORT by Wolf Richter • Feb 3, 2019 • 59 Comments Is this the Beginning of a Globalized Housing Downturn?
Italy Guns For Glass-Steagall-Type Law to Break Up Banks, Cut Bailout Costs for Taxpayers by Don Quijones • Feb 3, 2019 • 45 Comments The banking lobby and the ECB will have a cow.
What the CEO of America’s Largest Mall REIT, Simon Property Group, Just Said about the Brick & Mortar Meltdown and How it’s Trying to Manage It by Wolf Richter • Feb 2, 2019 • 62 Comments “I prefer not to scare you at this point, okay. But it’s something that we’ve been able to withstand”: CEO David Simon.
I’m in Awe of How Fast the Housing Markets in Sydney & Melbourne Are Coming Unglued by Wolf Richter • Feb 1, 2019 • 77 Comments “Can we still describe this as an orderly slowdown in housing conditions?” CoreLogic
Who Bought the Gigantic $1.5 Trillion of New US Government Debt Issued over the Past 12 Months? by Wolf Richter • Jan 31, 2019 • 136 Comments China, Japan, other foreign entities dumped US Treasuries. But someone had to buy. Here’s who. So far, so good.
New House Prices Drop 12% as Supply Surges by Wolf Richter • Jan 31, 2019 • 59 Comments Unwinding years of price gains as homebuilders try to make deals.
Home Sales to Get Even Uglier in Near Future by Wolf Richter • Jan 31, 2019 • 34 Comments “Dripping down, down, down. Frustrating that the housing market is not recovering”: National Association of Realtors
Fed’s QE Unwind to Continue on Autopilot, Rate Hikes on Hold for “Common-Sense Risk Management”: Powell by Wolf Richter • Jan 30, 2019 • 111 Comments QE may restart only if things get really ugly – think Financial Crisis.
Lloyds Bank Resurrects 0%-Down Adjustable-Rate Mortgages for First-Time Buyers to Prop Up UK’s Housing Market by Don Quijones • Jan 30, 2019 • 31 Comments Desperate measures for desperate times?
The Most Splendid Housing Bubbles in America Shrink by Wolf Richter • Jan 29, 2019 • 94 Comments Seattle prices drop 5.1% in five months, most since Housing Bust 1; San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver, Portland all decline.
