Mortgage-Rate Buydowns by Homebuilders Are Now All the Rage to Prop Up Sales, Lowering Effective House Prices in a Big Way, but Don’t Get Picked Up by House Price Data by Wolf Richter • Sep 10, 2023 • 279 Comments Appraisers have not yet caught on to it either.
“Unrealized Losses” on Securities Held by Banks, Oh Dearie, the Whole Schmear: +8%, to $558 Billion by Wolf Richter • Sep 8, 2023 • 257 Comments How do you lose 47% on 30-year Treasuries? Buy at auction in Aug 2020. Or carry them at purchase price and hide the “unrealized loss” in the footnotes.
Fed Balance Sheet QT: -$105 Billion in August, -$864 Billion from Peak, to $8.1 Trillion, Lowest since July 2021 by Wolf Richter • Sep 7, 2023 • 125 Comments It shed 24% of the Treasury securities it had added during pandemic QE, footprint in ballooning Treasury market shrinks.
My Favorite Recession Indicator: The Next Recession Moves Further out of Sight by Wolf Richter • Sep 7, 2023 • 221 Comments There will be a recession, there’s always a recession eventually. But we’ll just have to keep watching for it.
Accelerating Inflation without Economic Growth: Bank of Canada Holds Rate at 5.0%, with Bias to Tighten Further. QT Continues by Wolf Richter • Sep 6, 2023 • 94 Comments The BoC already shed 50% of its QE assets, and the shedding continues.
Gasoline Prices Rise Year-over-Year for First Time since Feb 2022: CPI Inflation to Feel the Heat this Year by Wolf Richter • Sep 5, 2023 • 109 Comments “Disinflation” already ended.
Crude Oil WTI Jumps to Highest since November, as SPR Gets Refilled, Saudi Arabia & Russia Extend Production Cuts by Wolf Richter • Sep 5, 2023 • 113 Comments “Disinflation” honeymoon was nice, thank you, but it’s over.
Construction Spending for Factories Soars, after Decades in the Doldrums by Wolf Richter • Sep 3, 2023 • 131 Comments Driven by manufacturing plants for technologically advanced, high-value products. Automation is the great equalizer.
How Have Mortgage Rates Hit Home Sales & Inventory? Where Will Inflation & Long-Term Rates Go? Have Credit Cards Propped up Consumers Spending? by Wolf Richter • Sep 3, 2023 • 65 Comments Wolf Richter on HoweStreet.com Radio
Labor Force Spikes, Wage Pressures Stuck at High Levels, Job Market Sorts Out the Distortions from the Pandemic by Wolf Richter • Sep 1, 2023 • 88 Comments With the labor force surging, did they all get jobs? No. But many did.
