People Got Used to Higher Prices and Are Outspending even Raging Inflation. They Don’t Want this Thing to Land by Wolf Richter • Feb 24, 2023 • 261 Comments Year-over-year growth in consumer spending, adjusted for inflation, outpaced pre-pandemic average. Month-over-month, growth spiked.
“Disinflation” Hoopla Sunk by Spiking Prices in January, Upward Revisions for Oct-Dec: Services PCE Price Index Worst since 1984, Goods Jump, “Core PCE” Red-Hot Again by Wolf Richter • Feb 24, 2023 • 181 Comments Inflation Horror Show. The Fed has got a problem on its hands.
As Inflation Spikes to 41-Year High, Bank of Japan Promises to Let her Rip by Wolf Richter • Feb 24, 2023 • 87 Comments A political decision to solve Japan’s horrid fiscal mess by fueling inflation, and forget that 2% target.
Commodities’ Wild Ride: Spikes, Plunges, Re-spikes: Lithium, Lumber, Coal, Wheat, Copper, Steel, Iron Ore, Soybeans, Coffee, Corn by Wolf Richter • Feb 23, 2023 • 93 Comments Oh no, coffee! Commodities are not moving in lockstep.
Spring Selling Season Starts Ominously: Mortgage Applications to Purchase a Home Plunge to Lowest since 1995 by Wolf Richter • Feb 22, 2023 • 188 Comments Prospects of 7% Mortgages Return. Surge in activity in January from very low levels has fizzled.
Mortgage Rates Near 7% for Spring Selling Season: Prices of Existing Homes Fall 13% from Peak, on Lowest Sales since 2010 by Wolf Richter • Feb 21, 2023 • 164 Comments Market is still frozen, potential sellers sit on vacant properties, hoping this too shall pass. Cash Buyers, investors, second-home buyers pull back further.
How the CPI “Weights” Changed and Moved CPI: Meet the Surprises by Wolf Richter • Feb 21, 2023 • 91 Comments In numbers and charts: The weight changes in the major CPI categories pushed up overall CPI.
How Many People Were Actually Laid Off So Far in California? The Counties & Companies with the Biggest Layoffs by Wolf Richter • Feb 20, 2023 • 124 Comments Still not many layoffs, but concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area. Workers found new jobs quickly, and employment in California still rose.
Why the Fed Can Let the Housing Bust Rip: Mortgages, HELOCs, Delinquencies, Foreclosures, and Who’s on the Hook by Wolf Richter • Feb 17, 2023 • 272 Comments Mostly taxpayers, not the banks.
San Francisco Bay Area Housing Market Crashes, Prices Plunge 35% from Crazy Peak: Where’s Demand Supposed to Come From? by Wolf Richter • Feb 17, 2023 • 244 Comments In the first 10 months of Housing Bust 2 (now), the median price plunged a lot faster than in the first 10 months of Housing Bust 1 (2007-11).
