My Fancy-Schmancy “Fed Hawk-o-Meter” Jumps 18%, “Patient” Gets Slashed, “Moderated” Disappears

by Wolf Richter • Apr 10, 2019 • 28 Comments

What’s the Fed Trying to Say?

How Big or Tiny of an Apartment Can the Median Household Income Afford to Rent in the 100 Largest US Cities?

by Wolf Richter • Apr 10, 2019 • 39 Comments

In some cities, you get what is considered a walk-in closet of a McMansion.

This is How Stocks Get Hit When BBB-Rated Companies Try to Dodge a Downgrade to “Junk”

by Wolf Richter • Apr 9, 2019 • 45 Comments

There are now many of them. Shoring up the balance sheet is the opposite of “shareholder friendly.” It’s “creditor friendly.”

UK-Based Multinational Department Store Debenhams Collapses, After 200 Years of Trading

by Don Quijones • Apr 9, 2019 • 46 Comments

“The traditional private equity model should have no place in retail.”

What Would Stocks Do in “a World Without Buybacks,” Goldman Asks

by Wolf Richter • Apr 8, 2019 • 102 Comments

Companies buying back their own shares has “consistently been the largest source of US equity demand.” Without them, “demand for shares would fall dramatically.” Too painful to even imagine.

A Simon Property Group Mall Generates Largest Loss Ever for Retail CMBS

by Wolf Richter • Apr 8, 2019 • 52 Comments

How the Brick & Mortar Meltdown works for Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities after America’s largest mall landlord defaults on a mortgage and walks away from the mall.

THE WOLF STREET REPORT

by Wolf Richter • Apr 7, 2019 • 48 Comments

Why the Wave of Mega-IPOs Won’t Bail Out the San Francisco & Silicon Valley Housing Bubbles, Despite All the Hype.

Update on the Deepening Housing Bust in Vancouver, Canada

by Wolf Richter • Apr 6, 2019 • 69 Comments

Market for houses freezes up. House & condo prices drop. High end hit the hardest.

Used-Car Market Profits from Carmageddon

by Wolf Richter • Apr 5, 2019 • 90 Comments

Many Americans are priced out of the new-car market.

Facebook Got Caught Phishing for Friends

by Electronic Frontier Foundation • Apr 5, 2019 • 60 Comments

“The company cannot be left to its own devices, and existing enforcement authorities haven’t done enough.”

UK Auto Sales Now Down 15% in Q1 from 2 Years Ago. Diesels in Death Spiral

by Don Quijones • Apr 5, 2019 • 29 Comments

But “superminis” are hot.

Fed’s QE Unwind Reaches $535 Billion, Balance Sheet Drops to $3.94 Trillion, Old Autopilot Still Engaged

by Wolf Richter • Apr 4, 2019 • 78 Comments

Then there’s the sinkhole of $1.5 trillion in MBS and $617 billion in Treasuries that mature in over 10 years.

Currency-Trading Algos “Flummoxed” by Rapid-Fire Brexit Headlines

by Wolf Richter • Apr 4, 2019 • 57 Comments

AI Not There Yet?

Next Phase in Trucking Boom-Bust Cycle Has Started

by Wolf Richter • Apr 3, 2019 • 50 Comments

From “capacity panic” to “overcapacity” in less than a year?

Market is Delusional: This is Not a Rate-Cut Economy

by Wolf Richter • Apr 3, 2019 • 57 Comments

Growth in the service sector backs off from red-hot spurts last year but remains strong.

Q1 Carmageddon for GM, Fiat-Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan, Mercedes, Mazda…

by Wolf Richter • Apr 2, 2019 • 105 Comments

Ford wisely kept its mouth shut. The problem with Mercedes and BMW is that they don’t yet sell luxury pickups, though they’re finally figuring it out.

Update on the Spreading Housing Bust in Australia, and Why it’s Happening

by Wolf Richter • Apr 2, 2019 • 48 Comments

This bubble was not pricked by the central bank — on the contrary.

US Still Cleanest Dirty Shirt Among Manufacturing Giants, Germany Drops to Debt Crisis Levels, Japan Contracts, China Counts on Government Bailout of Private Sector

by Wolf Richter • Apr 1, 2019 • 45 Comments

But the US shirt is getting dirtier. Germany’s manufacturing data “makes for uncomfortable reading.”

US Dollar Status as Global Reserve Currency Edges Down Further

by Wolf Richter • Apr 1, 2019 • 83 Comments

Is the euro dead yet? And how is the Chinese Renminbi doing?

THE WOLF STREET REPORT

by Wolf Richter • Mar 31, 2019 • 75 Comments

How Rising Home Prices & Rents Hammer the Real Economy.

What the Heck’s Going on in China’s Video-Game Market, the Largest in the World?

by Adam Williams • Mar 30, 2019 • 94 Comments

The Dragon in the Game Room has a situation.

Lyft Shares Plunge 10% in 4 Hours from “Pop” to Close

by Wolf Richter • Mar 29, 2019 • 110 Comments

IPO investors tried to unload while they could.

Consumers Revert to “Normal” Range, after Red-Hot mid-2018

by Wolf Richter • Mar 29, 2019 • 59 Comments

Personal income sets record. Bond market bet on inflation may get challenged.

Apartment Rental Market: Houston Rents Plunge Most; Southern California Lose Grip. New York, Washington DC, Chicago Down. “Mid-Tier” Cities Red-Hot

by Wolf Richter • Mar 28, 2019 • 58 Comments

Where Apartment Rents Fell & Where They Surged: March Update

And the Less-Splendid Housing Bubbles & Crushed Markets in America?

by Wolf Richter • Mar 28, 2019 • 77 Comments

House prices in Miami eke out post-collapse record, but fizzle in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Washington, DC; fall in Chicago. Cincinnati & Detroit tick down further.

Deutsche Bank Seeking a “Guarantee of Existence” with Monster-Merger?

by Don Quijones • Mar 27, 2019 • 26 Comments

Opposition Is Growing to Merger Between Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank.

Yield-Curve Spaghetti: Weird Sag in the Middle May Dish up Surprises

by Wolf Richter • Mar 27, 2019 • 106 Comments

The next recession, when it finally occurs, may be a different animal altogether.

The Most Splendid Housing Bubbles in America Deflate Further

by Wolf Richter • Mar 26, 2019 • 107 Comments

San Francisco Bay Area House prices -4.3%, condos -5.7% since July, Seattle house prices -5.9%, most since Housing Bust 1; Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver, Portland, New York condos, Boston decline. Dallas ticks up.

How Can a Company with $1.8 Billion in Revenue Lose $1.9 Billion? WeWork Shows How

by Wolf Richter • Mar 25, 2019 • 108 Comments

The financial world has gone nuts.

What’s So Hilarious When a Millennial WSJ-Reporter Says What an App Does is New & Life-Changing Though We’ve Been Doing It for 3 Decades

by Wolf Richter • Mar 25, 2019 • 127 Comments

Where are the grizzled editors to stop this? Has ageism reached the point where they don’t have grown-ups working there anymore?