US Trade Deficit in 2023 Dropped 19%, as Goods Deficit with China Plunged 29%: Imports & Exports of Goods & Services by Wolf Richter • Feb 8, 2024 • 48 Comments The much improved (or rather less horrible?) trade deficit was one of the reasons GDP was much stronger than expected.
Here Come the HELOCs: Mortgage Balances, Delinquencies, and Foreclosures by Wolf Richter • Feb 7, 2024 • 102 Comments When will it get messy for our Drunken Sailors? Not now.
Used-Vehicle Wholesale Prices Give Up 55% of Pandemic Spike: Historic Plunge after Crazy Spike by Wolf Richter • Feb 7, 2024 • 72 Comments But the plunge in retail prices of used cars and trucks hasn’t progressed nearly as much.
Auto Loan Balances, Subprime, Delinquencies, and Income: Who Are those Drunken Sailors? by Wolf Richter • Feb 6, 2024 • 98 Comments Subprime doesn’t mean “low income.” It means “bad credit” – and some is high income. And subprime loans are coming home to roost.
US Office CRE Mess Is Spread Far and Wide across Investors & Banks Globally. US Banks Eat only a Portion of the Losses by Wolf Richter • Feb 5, 2024 • 93 Comments Japanese, Canadian, and European banks started to confess. And for over a year, huge losses have hit investors, not banks.
Fed Balance Sheet QT: -$1.34 Trillion from Peak, to $7.63 Trillion, Lowest since March 2021 by Wolf Richter • Feb 1, 2024 • 94 Comments The Fed shed 33% of the Treasury securities it had added during pandemic QE and 24% of the MBS.
Here’s my Powell Cocktail, Not Quite in his Own Words by Wolf Richter • Jan 31, 2024 • 147 Comments It’s premature to think rate cuts are right around the corner, we haven’t decided anything yet, it’s meeting by meeting, but in March no way Jose, I mean, that’s not my base case.
Tesla Closes in on Toyota in California: The Battle for #1. Total EV Sales +46% in 2023, EV Share Hits 21% by Wolf Richter • Jan 30, 2024 • 151 Comments Tesla +24.6%, Toyota +2%. Model Y +52%, #1 bestseller by far; Model 3 is #2 bestseller. Toyota loses it, Camry sales -16%, RAV4 +1%.
On the Surface, PCE Inflation Is Encouraging, But Beneath it, Core Services Accelerated, Housing Stuck at 5.7% for Six Months by Wolf Richter • Jan 26, 2024 • 106 Comments And a look back at the head-fakes core services inflation dished up last time with this type of inflation.
Prices of New Houses Drop to 2-Year Low by Wolf Richter • Jan 25, 2024 • 99 Comments Homebuilders do what it takes to sell homes in this market while sales of existing homes have collapsed.
