Stasis in the US Labor Market: a Peculiar Situation by Wolf Richter • Mar 31, 2026 • 34 Comments Total separations drop to the lowest since 2015 beyond the lockdown months.
Farm Action’s Letter to Congress, Lambasting the Concentration of Fertilizer Makers and its Impact on Prices by Wolf Richter • Mar 31, 2026 • 38 Comments “These structural dynamics allow supply disruptions … to translate into rapid, outsized, and sustained price increases.”
Humana, Caught up in the Metastasizing Medicare Overbilling Scandal, Enters Our Imploded Stocks by Wolf Richter • Mar 30, 2026 • 64 Comments Government crackdown and legal entanglements take all the fun out of the Medicare Advantage plan bonanza.
Status of US Dollar as Global Reserve Currency: USD Share Drops to 31-Year Low as Central Banks Diversify into Other Currencies & Gold by Wolf Richter • Mar 28, 2026 • 72 Comments The spike of the “non-traditional reserve currencies.”
Update on the “Lock-in Effect” in the Housing Market: Below-3% & 4% Mortgages Fade Very Slowly by Wolf Richter • Mar 27, 2026 • 52 Comments Share of ARMs originations fell further and is at historic lows: FHFA’s National Mortgage Database.
US Winemakers and Beer Brewers Face an Existential Crisis: Plunging Alcohol Consumption by Wolf Richter • Mar 26, 2026 • 136 Comments Beer brewers have long suffered as Americans switched to wine. But since Covid, even winemakers got hit, and 2025 was really bad.
The US Labor Market Confounds with its Countercurrents. It May Be the New Normal Labor Market by Wolf Richter • Mar 26, 2026 • 54 Comments The Fed has also struggled in dealing with this labor market.
Fed’s Operating Losses Declined to $19 Billion in 2025, “Unrealized Losses” Declined to $844 Billion by Wolf Richter • Mar 25, 2026 • 36 Comments QE hangover a little less atrocious after years of QT and lower interest rates.
There Goes the Spring Selling Season: Mortgage Rates Jump, Mortgage Applications to Purchase a Home Drop by Wolf Richter • Mar 25, 2026 • 62 Comments Mortgage purchase applications are down by 35% from the same period in 2019 in a housing market that remains frozen.
$5+ Diesel Could Unleash Inflationary Mindset the Fed Better Not “Look Through.” Inflation Was already Hot before Iran War by Wolf Richter • Mar 24, 2026 • 118 Comments When this inflationary mindset takes off, inflation becomes like a runaway train.
