Just in Time for ECB Rate-Hike Meeting: Eurozone Services Inflation Spikes to New Record. Overall Inflation Re-Accelerates by Wolf Richter • May 2, 2023 • 87 Comments These nasty surprises just keep coming when inflation is broadly entrenched in the economy.
Here’s the Great Deal JP Morgan Got on First Republic, according to JP Morgan’s Victory Lap in front of Investors by Wolf Richter • May 1, 2023 • 183 Comments A one-time “bargain purchase gain” of $2.6 billion, “over $500 million” in net income accretion, lots of other goodies amounting to an IRR of “over 20%.”
First Republic Zombie Bank Dismembered, Pieces Handed to JP Morgan, Uninsured Depositors Bailed Out. Stockholders, some Bondholders Bailed in. Cost to FDIC Fund: $13 Billion by Wolf Richter • May 1, 2023 • 135 Comments FDIC Board Member McKernan laments “our country’s bailout culture that privatizes gains while socializing losses.”
Remember the Lithium Shortage & Huge Price Spike? In the Four Months since, Lithium Collapsed 70% amid Talk of Lithium Glut by Wolf Richter • Apr 29, 2023 • 152 Comments Fits with Tesla’s big price cuts, aimed at internal-combustion-engine vehicles.
This Inflation is Stuck, Churns from Product to Product: Core PCE Price Index Moves Sideways for 9 Months, Stubbornly High Near 5%. To Top it Off, February Was Revised Higher by Wolf Richter • Apr 28, 2023 • 231 Comments It’s just not encouraging at all. Inflation is just shifting around.
Fed’s Balance Sheet Plunges $171 Billion in Five Weeks since Peak Bank Bailout as QT Continues and Liquidity Support Cools by Wolf Richter • Apr 27, 2023 • 156 Comments First Republic, is this you?
Spring Selling Season Already Goes to Heck, Pending Home Sales Plunge. Banking Crisis to Blame? by Wolf Richter • Apr 27, 2023 • 101 Comments A harbinger for closed sales in April and May.
Consumers, Governments Spent like Drunken Sailors in Q1. Private Investment Plunge & Inventory Change Dogged GDP by Wolf Richter • Apr 27, 2023 • 71 Comments Americans came out of their funk they’d been in late last year. They’re 70% of GDP. They blew money left and right; spending on durable goods spiked!
What Are We Going to Do with All these Unicorns? by Wolf Richter • Apr 26, 2023 • 91 Comments Another Easy-Money hangover.
The Most Splendid Housing Bubbles in America, April Update: Year-over-Year Price Drops Worsen in San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego, Portland, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Denver by Wolf Richter • Apr 25, 2023 • 254 Comments Even Miami lost ground. Spring selling season is a dud so far. And the banking crisis hasn’t even made it into the data yet. That’s still to come.
