Fed Balance Sheet QT: -$1.53 Trillion from Peak, to $7.44 Trillion, Lowest since February 2021. The BTFP Plunged by $34 Billion by Wolf Richter • Apr 4, 2024 • 137 Comments Quantitative Tightening has removed 37% of Treasury securities and 27% of MBS that pandemic QE had added.
Fed’s Kashkari Says Quiet Part Out Loud: Maybe No Rate Cuts in 2024 if Inflation Continues to Move “Sideways” by Wolf Richter • Apr 4, 2024 • 107 Comments The stock market didn’t like that at all.
How the Huge Wave of Immigrants into the US in 2022 and 2023 Impacts the Employment Data of the BLS Household Survey by Wolf Richter • Apr 3, 2024 • 112 Comments The BLS uses the Census Bureau’s understated population estimates that ignore the surge of immigrants. But the CBO’s estimates pick them up.
Side Effect of US Oil & Gas Boom: Record Ethane Production & Exports by Wolf Richter • Apr 3, 2024 • 45 Comments Production, consumption by the US petrochemical industry, and exports all hit records, and the price collapsed.
This Labor Market Is Not Loosening Further: Fed Gets More Reason for Wait-and-See by Wolf Richter • Apr 2, 2024 • 86 Comments But the headlines-grabbing layoff announcements had the effect of calming the churn.
Office CRE Mess Keeps Getting Worse, Massive Repricing Underway by Wolf Richter • Apr 1, 2024 • 95 Comments It’ll take years to get this mess cleaned up, at the expense of investors, landlords, and banks.
US Coal Production, Consumption, Exports & Imports in 2023: Consumption Plunges to Lowest since 1963. But Exports Rise by Wolf Richter • Apr 1, 2024 • 61 Comments Use of coal in power generation fades. Cheap US natural gas has been hard to beat for 15 years.
Curse of Easy Money: US Government Interest Payments on the Ballooning Debt v. Tax Receipts, Higher Interest Rates, Inflation by Wolf Richter • Mar 31, 2024 • 201 Comments Biggest Drunken Sailors of all. Average interest rate on the Treasury debt spiked but is still only half of what it was in 2001.
Higher Inflation, Higher Rates Forever? Will the Fed Let CRE Turmoil Run its Course? Is QT Hitting Dollar Liquidity Outside the US? And More… by Wolf Richter • Mar 30, 2024 • 48 Comments Wolf Richter on “This Week in Money.”
Our Drunken Sailors Went Partying Again: Consumer Spending on Services, even Adjusted for Inflation, is Red-Hot by Wolf Richter • Mar 29, 2024 • 181 Comments They’re in absolutely no mood to slow down. And they still saved part of their income. So why should they even slow down?
