US Debt-to-GDP Ratio Worsens Further, Despite Solid Economic Growth, as Government Debt Balloons at a Scary Pace by Wolf Richter • Jan 27, 2024 • 301 Comments The economy grew solidly. The debt spiked.
On the Surface, PCE Inflation Is Encouraging, But Beneath it, Core Services Accelerated, Housing Stuck at 5.7% for Six Months by Wolf Richter • Jan 26, 2024 • 106 Comments And a look back at the head-fakes core services inflation dished up last time with this type of inflation.
Prices of New Houses Drop to 2-Year Low by Wolf Richter • Jan 25, 2024 • 99 Comments Homebuilders do what it takes to sell homes in this market while sales of existing homes have collapsed.
The Year of the Recession that Didn’t Come: Our Drunken Sailors Partied & Spent, GDP Jumped by Wolf Richter • Jan 25, 2024 • 100 Comments All major categories of spending and investment pulled in the same direction.
“Effective Immediately,” Fed Shuts Down Arbitrage Opportunity with the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) by Wolf Richter • Jan 24, 2024 • 134 Comments This is funny, in a central-bank kind of way.
Did the $5-Billion Acquisition of Homebuilder MDC Holdings by Japan’s Sekisui House Mark the Top for Homebuilder Stocks after the Rate-Cut-Mania Rally? by Wolf Richter • Jan 24, 2024 • 29 Comments With uncanny precision?
D.R. Horton Sheds Some Light on the Massive Costs of Mortgage Rate Buydowns as a Hedge Went Awry. Stock Tanks by Wolf Richter • Jan 24, 2024 • 86 Comments The plunge in mortgage rates in Nov and Dec blew up the hedge for the rate buydowns: surprise cost on top of the regular costs of buydowns.
Another Online Used-Car Dealer Bites the Dust: Vroom, 3.5 Years after Red-Hot IPO, Shuts Down as Ally Suspends Credit Line by Wolf Richter • Jan 23, 2024 • 66 Comments The SPACs Shift Technologies and Carlotz are already dead. Carvana is still out there, after its distressed debt exchange.
US Movie Ticket Sales -46% in 2023 from 21 Years Ago: AMC and the Movie Theater Meltdown by Wolf Richter • Jan 22, 2024 • 135 Comments Americans have changed how they watch movies. They watch more than ever, but at home.
Status of the Housing Bust in San Francisco (Lowest Price for any December since 2017 & 2019), Silicon Valley & the Bay Area by Wolf Richter • Jan 21, 2024 • 102 Comments In 19 months, prices in San Francisco dropped nearly as much as in the first 19 months of Housing Bust 1. Bay Area is well behind. We’re keeping score.