Our Drunken Sailors – Consumers, Governments, Businesses – Have Blast, GDP Spikes in Q3, Powell Seen Tearing out his Hair by Wolf Richter • Oct 26, 2023 • 189 Comments The much-awaited and hoped-for slowdown in the second half turned into a drunken party in Q3.
Prices of New Houses -15% from Peak on High Inventories. Sales Held Up with Lower Prices & Massive Mortgage-Rate Buydowns by Wolf Richter • Oct 25, 2023 • 153 Comments What homebuilder PulteGroup said about mortgage-rate buydowns. Homebuilders have figured out this market, homeowners have not.
Alphabet Shows the Mega-Layoff Announcements Were Just That, Headcount Dropped Far Less and is Rising Again by Wolf Richter • Oct 25, 2023 • 52 Comments But the layoff announcements across tech and social media were effective in re-explaining to workers who the boss is.
Teladoc’s Investors Came out of Consensual Hallucination and Smelled the Bad Breath? by Wolf Richter • Oct 24, 2023 • 65 Comments Down 94% from the infamous February 2021. These kinds of goofball charts are stunning — and now totally common.
Cruise Driverless Vehicles in San Francisco Suspended by California DMV “Effective Immediately.” Waymo Can Continue to Operate Robotaxis by Wolf Richter • Oct 24, 2023 • 120 Comments “Not safe for the public’s operation.”
Social Security Update: Trust Fund, Income, Outgo, and Deficit in Fiscal 2023 by Wolf Richter • Oct 23, 2023 • 109 Comments Contributions jumped 11.8% (more people working, big pay increases). Outgo jumped 12.0% (more people at retirement age and the 8.7% COLA).
Spectacle Ensues after 10-Year Treasury Yield Pierces 5%: Huge Demand Piles in, Yield Plunges 19 Basis Points in Hours by Wolf Richter • Oct 23, 2023 • 119 Comments Yield fixes all demand problems. You just have to hit the right number, and the right number today was 5%.
Subprime Auto-Loan Delinquencies Hit Record, Prime Loans Are Pristine, after Easy Money Ends: The High-Risk High-Profit Business of Subprime Auto Lending by Wolf Richter • Oct 22, 2023 • 110 Comments What makes it work: Securitizing subprime auto loans and selling the Asset-Backed Securities to yield-hungry investors.
Why Longer-Dated Treasury Yields Spiked. It’s Not Magic: Yield Solves All Demand Problems by Wolf Richter • Oct 20, 2023 • 254 Comments Tsunami of issuance meets Fed QT, Skittish Foreign Buyers, and US buyers demanding to be compensated for the risks of out-of-control deficits in an inflationary environment.
Home Prices Fall Further. Peak was June 2022. Demand Crashes, Price Cuts Jump, Supply & Days on Market Rise by Wolf Richter • Oct 19, 2023 • 228 Comments NAR, the Realtor lobbying group, demands its easy-money heroin back that the Fed has confiscated.
