Retail Sales Excl. Autos & Gasoline Jump by Most in 18 Months & Pushed Up Atlanta Fed GDPNow to 2.5% from 2.0% Last Week by Wolf Richter • Jul 16, 2024 • 69 Comments Auto sales hit by CDK hack. Gasoline and auto sales in dollars hit by dropping prices, but they boost inflation-adjusted consumer spending.
Simon Property Group Jettisons another Mall, to Manage its Way through the Brick-and-Mortar Meltdown by Shrinking and Walking away from Debts by Wolf Richter • Jul 15, 2024 • 86 Comments The largest mall landlord has shed 38% of its shopping centers since 2012. It saw what was coming. So here’s one more.
What the Short-Term Treasury Market Says about Rate Cuts, and How Repeatedly Wrong it Was so Far by Wolf Richter • Jul 13, 2024 • 128 Comments Inflation has the upper hand. The market (Goldman Sachs and me included) vastly underestimated the Fed. Someday the market might get it right.
The Most Splendid Housing Bubbles in Canada, June: A Rate Cut, and? Overall Prices Don’t Move, -14% from Peak, -3.4% YoY. Sales -9.4% YoY by Wolf Richter • Jul 12, 2024 • 49 Comments Prices from 2 years ago: Toronto -15%, Vancouver -2.5%, Victoria -11%, Ottawa -10%, Montreal -1.8%. Calgary & Quebec set new highs.
Services PPI Inflation Dishes Up Another Nasty Surprise, 6th Month in a Row. Bottom of U-Turn was in December by Wolf Richter • Jul 12, 2024 • 56 Comments Services are huge, 62% of total PPI. We see parallels to early 2021, when this mess started. But core goods are well-behaved.
Beneath the Skin of CPI Inflation: Historic Plunge in Durable Goods Prices, Plunge in Gasoline, and Outliers in Services by Wolf Richter • Jul 11, 2024 • 93 Comments Core Services CPI produced 2nd outlier. In the past, after two outliers in this very volatile data, the next move was a U-turn.
Home Buyers Remain on Strike, Housing Market Still Frozen as Prices Are Too High, Mortgage Rates Still 7% by Wolf Richter • Jul 10, 2024 • 213 Comments Powell to Congress: Higher rates are “the absolute best thing we can do for the housing market…” – “…particularly for younger people who are not yet in the housing market.”
Here Comes the Housing Inventory as Sales Plunge: Active Listings Explode in Tampa, Orlando, Denver, San Diego, Jacksonville, Miami and Surge in other Metros by Wolf Richter • Jul 9, 2024 • 133 Comments Listing prices in June flat YoY and below June 2022. Mortgage rates still at 7%. Prices way too high. Something has to give.
Used Car & Truck Prices Spiral Down Further in Historic Plunge, Surrender 60% of Stunning 2-year Spike by Wolf Richter • Jul 9, 2024 • 63 Comments But used EV prices still +61% from Jan. 2020, used ICE vehicles +31%. When will they bottom out? Compact cars approach affordability again.
Who Made or Lost What between Brookfield, Starwood, MetLife? An Office CRE Deal of the Low-Interest-Rate Era Gets Shredded in Foreclosure by Wolf Richter • Jul 8, 2024 • 59 Comments One thing’s for sure: Low interest rates turned investors’ brains into mush.
