With Stimmies Fading, Consumers Dip into Credit Cards for First Time since 2019, But Only a Little. Everyone’s Relieved by Wolf Richter • Jul 8, 2021 • 155 Comments No one wants consumers to pay off their high-interest credit cards, least of all banks, and consumers had threatened to do just that.
Was This Finally “Peak Insanity” in Used Vehicle Prices? by Wolf Richter • Jul 8, 2021 • 89 Comments All kinds of crazy spikes in used-vehicle wholesale and retail markets topped out, but by only a tad.
Americans See the Raging Mania: “Bad Time to Buy a Home” & “Good Time to Sell a Home” Sentiments Spike to WTF Record by Wolf Richter • Jul 8, 2021 • 175 Comments If these sentiments become reality, it’s going to be a sea change for demand and supply at these crazy prices.
Tapering, Doubts about “Transitory” Inflation, and “Financial Stability Risks” due to “Valuation Pressures in Housing Markets”: Some Folks at the Fed Getting a Little Nervous by Wolf Richter • Jul 7, 2021 • 154 Comments Disruptions “might linger for longer and might have larger or more persistent effects on prices and wages than they currently assumed.”
Buyers’ Strike? Mortgage Applications Drop 8% Below 2019, as Home Buyers Get Second Thoughts about “Raging Mania” by Wolf Richter • Jul 7, 2021 • 129 Comments First effect of MBS taper-talk from the Fed: Mortgage rates flat since late April even as long-term Treasury yields dropped.
Bank of Japan Stops QE, Reserve Bank of Australia Starts Tapering, Bank of Canada & Bank of England Already Tapering, Amid Shock-and-Awe Rate Hikes in Emerging Markets by Wolf Richter • Jul 6, 2021 • 167 Comments The Fed is a laggard, now discussing when and how to taper QE. The ECB is an even bigger laggard, as inflation begins to rage.
The Dollar’s Declining Status as Dominant “Global Reserve Currency” v. the Dollar’s Exchange Rate by Wolf Richter • Jul 5, 2021 • 208 Comments Nothing Goes to Heck in a Straight line, not even the dollar’s hegemony.
Semiconductor Shortage Slams Auto Sales in June. Ford Swoons. Toyota, after Hoarding Chips, Blows Away GM for First Time Ever by Wolf Richter • Jul 3, 2021 • 153 Comments Toyota, pioneer of just-in-time inventory, goes: Hahahahaha…
The Weird Phenomena of “Labor Shortages” While 7.1 Million Fewer People Are Working by Wolf Richter • Jul 2, 2021 • 348 Comments The #1 weird phenomenon: The labor force.
It Gets Ugly in US Office Markets, Working from Home Shows Up by Wolf Richter • Jul 1, 2021 • 117 Comments Oil Bust Houston hardest-hit. San Francisco, once hottest US market, coddles up to it, followed by Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C., Seattle, and Manhattan.
