Consumer Spending on Services Keeps up with Raging Inflation in Services. Spending on Goods Falls as Prices Drop, Demand Fizzles after Pandemic Binge

by Wolf Richter • Jan 27, 2023 • 60 Comments

Raging inflation is a tough nut to crack for income.

Services PCE Price Index Spikes, But Goods PCE Price Index Falls as Energy Prices Plunge: Core PCE Re-accelerates

by Wolf Richter • Jan 27, 2023 • 73 Comments

Services inflation is tough to stamp out, and it has taken over inflation. Powell will be talking about it.

No Landing Yet: Consumers Refuse to Give Up, Government Spending Jumps, Inventories Rise toward Trend, Trade Deficit Less Horrible

by Wolf Richter • Jan 26, 2023 • 108 Comments

Annual GDP for 2022 rose at average pre-pandemic rate, strong second half, weak first half. “Freak event” that sunk Q1 GDP completely unwound.

Bank of Canada: “We’re Pausing to Assess Whether We’ve Done Enough,” Hikes by 1/4% to 4.5%, QT Continues

by Wolf Richter • Jan 25, 2023 • 97 Comments

Will pause if inflation projections pan out. If not, more rate hikes on the table. Frets about upside risks to inflation from services, labor market, China

What’s Behind the Tech & Social Media Layoffs?

by Wolf Richter • Jan 25, 2023 • 113 Comments

Drunk with Easy Money, companies were hogging office space and workers for a future that did not come.

“Wetsuit Shaming,” LOL: WOLF STREET Drags WSJ Through San Francisco Bay Mud for the Clickbait Flotsam it Published about Cold-Water Swimming

by Wolf Richter • Jan 24, 2023 • 113 Comments

Kudos to the Wall Street Journal for having excelled once again with such acuity.

How Many People Were Actually Laid Off So Far in San Francisco and Silicon Valley?

by Wolf Richter • Jan 24, 2023 • 85 Comments

The WARN filings, by company.

Subprime Auto-Loan Delinquencies Rise to 2019 Levels: a Dive into Subprime Lending and Securitizations

by Wolf Richter • Jan 23, 2023 • 67 Comments

Surge of delinquencies not caused by unemployment, but by taking Big Risks, hoping for Big Profits, and getting slapped, just as in 2019.

THE WOLF STREET REPORT: What’s Behind the Mass Layoffs in Tech & Social Media

by Wolf Richter • Jan 22, 2023 • 151 Comments

Drunk with Easy Money, companies were hogging office space and workers for a future that did not come.

Prices of Existing Homes Fall 11% from Peak. Sales Hit Lockdown Low. Cash Buyers and Investors Pull Back Hard

by Wolf Richter • Jan 20, 2023 • 302 Comments

Priced right, any home will sell. But sellers are not wanting to price their homes right.

Inflation Spikes to 41-Year High in Japan. BOJ’s Stubborn & Reckless Kuroda Lets it Rip

by Wolf Richter • Jan 20, 2023 • 65 Comments

But the architect of Abenomics will be outa there in April.

Residential Construction Splits: Multifamily Starts in 2022 Jump to Highest since 1980s Boom, Single-Family Starts Drop

by Wolf Richter • Jan 19, 2023 • 147 Comments

What this means going into the slowdown.

San Francisco Bay Area House Prices Plunge 30% from Crazy Peak: Housing Bust 2

by Wolf Richter • Jan 19, 2023 • 201 Comments

Hammered by waves of layoffs, swooning stocks, collapsing cryptos, and 6% mortgage rates.

Falling Prices of Goods Push Down Retail Sales (as Inflation Shifted Massively to Services)

by Wolf Richter • Jan 18, 2023 • 83 Comments

Not seasonally adjusted, and despite the price drops, total retail sales and ecommerce sales hit records.

The Most Splendid Housing Bubbles in Canada, January Update: Prices Plunged, Housing Bust Gets Real

by Wolf Richter • Jan 17, 2023 • 122 Comments

He who panicked first, panicked best? Some charts are just kind of funny.

Natural Gas Futures in Europe Plunge 15% Today, Down 84% from Crazy Spike

by Wolf Richter • Jan 16, 2023 • 87 Comments

LNG Glut in China, suddenly?

Hangover Time for Used-Vehicle Dealers. For Buyers, Patience Will Pay Off

by Wolf Richter • Jan 16, 2023 • 168 Comments

Cutting prices on dropping unit sales causes revenues to plunge.

Can the Government Pay for its Spiking Interest Expenses? Time to Look at Interest Payments against Tax Receipts

by Wolf Richter • Jan 14, 2023 • 180 Comments

Inflation is an enemy of the people, but it’s a friend of government recklessness.

Despite Losses since September, the Fed Still Made a Profit for the Whole Year 2022, Remitted $76 billion to US Treasury Dept.

by Wolf Richter • Jan 13, 2023 • 91 Comments

But for Treasury, the gravy train has ended: Fed released preliminary info on interest income, interest expense, other expenses, profit, and dividends.

Bank of England Sold All Bonds it Bought Last Fall amid Pension Crisis, First Big Central Bank to Sell Government Bonds Outright

by Wolf Richter • Jan 12, 2023 • 110 Comments

At first in baby steps, and then in big chunks. Remember the “pivot to QE” mongers at the time? What a hoot.