Here Come the HELOCs in Household Debt: Mortgages, Delinquencies, and Foreclosures by Wolf Richter • May 15, 2024 • 116 Comments If residential mortgages get messy, banks are largely off the hook this time.
Junk-Bond Issuance Nearly Doubles YTD, amid Feverish Demand in La-la-Land and Ultra-Loose Financial Conditions by Wolf Richter • May 10, 2024 • 104 Comments Companies, seeing Higher-for-Longer, take advantage of it to lock in historically narrow spreads and still low yields.
Our Favorite Recession Indicator: Next Recession Keeps Moving Further Out by Wolf Richter • May 9, 2024 • 181 Comments It’s time again to look at the trends in claims for unemployment insurance benefits.
The Reasons the Fed’s Bowman is “Willing” to Hike Rates if “Data Indicate Progress on Inflation Has Stalled or Reversed” by Wolf Richter • May 5, 2024 • 103 Comments She nails it with her list of inflation-fueling factors. It parallels what Powell said more softly at the press conference.
The Most Splendid Housing Bubbles in America amid the Now-Fizzled Rate-Cut Mania & Erstwhile Plunge in Mortgage Rates by Wolf Richter • Apr 30, 2024 • 145 Comments Rate-Cut Mania died, mortgage rates re-jumped to 7.5% today, but here’s what home prices did during Rate-Cut Mania.
Sagging Used-Car Prices, Spiking Maintenance & Repair Costs, and a Post-Bankruptcy Propaganda Coup Turn Toxic for Hertz by Wolf Richter • Apr 29, 2024 • 146 Comments Americans need lower car prices. But not Hertz. “The residual decline … was relative to both ICE vehicles and EVs”: Hertz
Money Market Funds, T-Bills, Large CDs, Small CDs: Americans Learn to Arbitrage the Higher-for-Longer Interest Rates by Wolf Richter • Apr 27, 2024 • 137 Comments There’s no need to still pay a “loyalty tax” to the banks.
Biggest Landlords Pile into “Build-to-Rent” Single-Family Houses, but Sell Older Houses into this Overpriced Market by Wolf Richter • Apr 24, 2024 • 100 Comments American Homes 4 Rent and Invitation Homes sold over 3,000 older single-family houses in 2023.
Fed’s Liabilities and QT: as ON RRPs Plunge toward Zero, Operating Losses Begin to Decline by Wolf Richter • Apr 19, 2024 • 88 Comments After ON RRPs go to zero, reserves will decline, further reducing the Fed’s interest expenses and losses. But it’s not straightforward.
Home Sales Clobbered by Mortgage Rates. New Listings & Active Listings Surge. Most Price Reductions for any March in Years by Wolf Richter • Apr 18, 2024 • 159 Comments Price reductions of existing homes jump to 31.7% of active listings, highest since 2017.