US Trade Deficit Exploded in 2021: The Price of 30 Years of Rampant Globalization by Wolf Richter • Feb 8, 2022 • 202 Comments The US still exports a lot of stuff — record amounts. But it drowns under a tsunami of imports. And the services surplus fizzled.
Used Vehicle Prices Finally Hit Resistance, at Ridiculous Levels by Wolf Richter • Feb 8, 2022 • 149 Comments We noted the softening beneath the surface in the prior two months. In January, we saw it creep to the surface. And there’s plenty of supply.
Americans Borrowed More to Buy Much Less: What Happened with Auto Loans Is Truly Amazing by Wolf Richter • Feb 7, 2022 • 192 Comments Undeterred by spiking prices and shortages.
“Bad Time to Buy a Home” Hits Record Worst (Fannie Mae), as Home Sales Drop. Younger People Particularly Frustrated by Wolf Richter • Feb 7, 2022 • 207 Comments More milestones amid the mind-boggling milestones of our crazy times.
Can the US Government Afford Higher Interest Rates? You Bet. $67 Trillion “Fixed Income” Assets Will Generate Higher Incomes & Tax Revenues, Boost Secondary Effects by Wolf Richter • Feb 6, 2022 • 328 Comments Bring them on. Financial Repression has a huge cost.
Rough Day in the Bond Market: Treasury Yields Spike, 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rate Nears 4%. Where’s the Magic Number? by Wolf Richter • Feb 5, 2022 • 243 Comments Fed’s coming tightening cycle sinks in, amid still brutally negative “real” yields, as bonds’ purchasing power gets eaten up by inflation.
Today’s Jobs Report Solves Some Headscratcher Mysteries by Wolf Richter • Feb 4, 2022 • 155 Comments The Pandemic wreaked havoc on seasonal patterns; and “seasonally adjusted” numbers misfired. We knew that since mid-2020. Today some of it was resolved.
Global Tightening amid Raging Inflation: February Update by Wolf Richter • Feb 3, 2022 • 224 Comments Brazil and Russia caught up via shock-and-awe rate hikes. But most central banks fell further behind. Then there are the reckless laggards.
Incredibly Spiking US National Debt Hits Monstrous $30 Trillion by Wolf Richter • Feb 2, 2022 • 253 Comments And now the TGA is spiking again.
“The System Is Broken”: Boots-on-the-Ground View by a US Manufacturer on the Supply Chain Chaos by Wolf Richter • Feb 2, 2022 • 188 Comments “We are simply limited to what our suppliers tell us we can have. It really isn’t supposed to work this way!”