Services PPI Inflation Dishes Up Another Nasty Surprise, 6th Month in a Row. Bottom of U-Turn was in December by Wolf Richter • Jul 12, 2024 • 56 Comments Services are huge, 62% of total PPI. We see parallels to early 2021, when this mess started. But core goods are well-behaved.
Beneath the Skin of CPI Inflation: Historic Plunge in Durable Goods Prices, Plunge in Gasoline, and Outliers in Services by Wolf Richter • Jul 11, 2024 • 93 Comments Core Services CPI produced 2nd outlier. In the past, after two outliers in this very volatile data, the next move was a U-turn.
Home Buyers Remain on Strike, Housing Market Still Frozen as Prices Are Too High, Mortgage Rates Still 7% by Wolf Richter • Jul 10, 2024 • 213 Comments Powell to Congress: Higher rates are “the absolute best thing we can do for the housing market…” – “…particularly for younger people who are not yet in the housing market.”
Here Comes the Housing Inventory as Sales Plunge: Active Listings Explode in Tampa, Orlando, Denver, San Diego, Jacksonville, Miami and Surge in other Metros by Wolf Richter • Jul 9, 2024 • 133 Comments Listing prices in June flat YoY and below June 2022. Mortgage rates still at 7%. Prices way too high. Something has to give.
Used Car & Truck Prices Spiral Down Further in Historic Plunge, Surrender 60% of Stunning 2-year Spike by Wolf Richter • Jul 9, 2024 • 63 Comments But used EV prices still +61% from Jan. 2020, used ICE vehicles +31%. When will they bottom out? Compact cars approach affordability again.
Who Made or Lost What between Brookfield, Starwood, MetLife? An Office CRE Deal of the Low-Interest-Rate Era Gets Shredded in Foreclosure by Wolf Richter • Jul 8, 2024 • 59 Comments One thing’s for sure: Low interest rates turned investors’ brains into mush.
The Most Splendid Housing Bubbles in Europe: Biggest Price Drops in Germany, Finland, Sweden, Austria, France, Denmark by Wolf Richter • Jul 6, 2024 • 80 Comments But new highs in Portugal, Spain, Poland, Belgium, Ireland, Romania. A wild ride.
Fed Balance Sheet QT: -$34 Billion in June, -$1.74 Trillion from Peak, to $7.22 Trillion, Lowest since November 2020 by Wolf Richter • Jul 5, 2024 • 93 Comments Quantitative Tightening so far has removed 41% of Treasury securities and 29% of MBS that pandemic QE had added.
Job Growth Back to Normal Pre-Covid Pace, Wage Growth Still Higher: Longer-Term Employment Trends by Industry by Wolf Richter • Jul 5, 2024 • 50 Comments Huge undercount of immigrants since 2022 messes up employment data in the household survey.
What’s the Cost of Mortgage-Rate Buydowns and Other Incentives to Homebuilders? Lennar Discloses the Numbers by Wolf Richter • Jul 4, 2024 • 82 Comments And they’re big. That assumes their hedges don’t blow up, but that’s precisely what hit D.R. Horton.