Here Come the HELOCs: Mortgages, Housing-Debt-to-Income-Ratio, Serious Delinquencies, and Foreclosures in Q2 2026

Treasury bills outstanding ballooned by $1 trillion year-over-year, to $7 trillion. But total marketable Treasury securities ballooned by $2.5 trillion. So…

Self-Employed Workers (the “Gig Workers”), Part-Time Workers, and Multiple Jobholders: Some Thoughts

by Wolf Richter • Aug 7, 2026 • 56 Comments

Looking at them in the context of the rest of the labor market.

The Private Sector Gains 30,000 jobs, but Local Governments Shed 57,000 Jobs. Supply of Labor Continues to Shrink

by Wolf Richter • Aug 7, 2026 • 52 Comments

Crackdown on illegal immigration and boomer retirements continued to reduce the labor force, causing unemployment to drop further.

Derivative Losses Squish Already Crushed UWM, the Largest Mortgage Lender in the US: SPACs just Keep on Giving

by Wolf Richter • Aug 6, 2026 • 24 Comments

With its earnings announcement, it had a few tricks up its sleeve.

One Thing Is Clear about the AI Boom: It’s Burning Huge Amounts of Cash, and Alphabet Needs More

by Wolf Richter • Aug 6, 2026 • 72 Comments

Alphabet plans to borrow another $20-25 Billion, on top of the $50 billion in bonds and $85 billion in equity it sold earlier in 2026.

Another Hit to Demand in the Housing Market: Purchases by Foreign Buyers Have Plunged by 76% from Peak

by Wolf Richter • Aug 5, 2026 • 96 Comments

Purchases by Chinese, Canadian, and British buyers have collapsed. Foreign buyers matter in some key submarkets.

Labor Market Turnover Increased all Year, Bouncing Off Late 2025 Low. What that Means

by Wolf Richter • Aug 4, 2026 • 47 Comments

Another sign of underlying strength in the labor market.

AI Data Center Construction Spending Goes Exponential (But in Business, Exponential Curves Can’t Last)

by Wolf Richter • Aug 3, 2026 • 68 Comments

Corporate guidance for capital expenditures keeps getting ratcheted higher and involves massive sums, largely focused on AI infrastructure.

Why the US-Japan Joint Intervention to Prop Up the Yen? Fear of Treasury Yields Blowing Out if Japan Becomes a Forced Seller

by Wolf Richter • Aug 3, 2026 • 118 Comments

The prior interventions failed to permanently turn around the downward spiral of the yen. What’s needed: much tighter monetary policies by the BOJ.

Six Years into Bond Bear Market, 30-Year Treasury Yield Hits 5.28%, Yield Curve Steepens, but Spreads Are still too Narrow

by Wolf Richter • Aug 1, 2026 • 75 Comments

Warsh wants the bond market to do its job and look at inflation and the economy — and not at the Fed — and it’s finally doing it.

SPR Gets Drained to Dump Crude Oil on Global Markets: US Exports of Crude Oil & Petroleum Products Spike

by Wolf Richter • Jul 31, 2026 • 96 Comments

Crude oil exports hit a record of 5.7 MMb/d in May, exports of ultra-low sulfur diesel hit a record 1.54 MMb/d, etc.

Inflation in the Overall Economy, Hitting Consumers, Businesses, and Governments, Was Really Bad in Q2, even without Energy

by Wolf Richter • Jul 30, 2026 • 68 Comments

The Fed needs to coalesce and crack down on inflation lest the bond market figures out what’s going on in here… Oops.

Red-Hot Inflation & (Inflation-Adjusted) Strong Domestic Private-Sector Demand Marks Q2 GDP. Debt-to-GDP Ratio Dips to 121.5%

by Wolf Richter • Jul 30, 2026 • 23 Comments

But soaring imports (data-center components), a drop in federal government spending, and changes in private inventories ate into GDP growth.

Stocks Tank, Long-Term Treasury Yields Jump after Warsh Starts Talking

by Wolf Richter • Jul 29, 2026 • 89 Comments

“While at some level, we haven’t done much in 42 days, the markets have done quite a bit”: Warsh.