In March, April, and May, 120 junk-bond issues worth a total of $136 billion saw their credit ratings downgraded, more than at any time since 2020 during the heat of the COVID War, JPMorgan reported.
Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT – Aug 1 2023
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TWO MORE U.S. BANKS BITE THE DUST
The troubled PacWest Bancorp, which wobbled in the wake of the mid-March failure of Signature and Silicon Valley banks, has been sold to Banc of California, a smaller competitor, in a stock swap.
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VALUE OF COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LOANS SHRINKS
For the first time in two years, the monthly value of outstanding commercial real estate loans shrank in June, dropping to $5.44 trillion, Capital Economics reported.
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INFLATION IS FALLING BUT MAJOR BRANDS KEEP RAISING PRICES
Coca-Cola, Pepsico, and Unilever are among many familiar brands that have raised prices sharply this year while posting comfortable profits, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
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IS HOUSING RECESSION OVER?
The U.S. housing market’s recession is over, Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR), said in a statement last week.
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FED RAISES INTEREST RATE TO 22-YEAR HIGH
On 26 July, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee voted unanimously to add another quarter point to its interest rates, raising them to 5.25 percent on deposits and 5.5 percent on loans, their highest since 2001.
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WAGE INCREASES SURPASSED INFLATION IN SECOND QUARTER: BIG DEAL?
In this year’s second quarter, U.S. workers got an actual raise... so says the U.S. government.
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U.S. ECONOMY GROWS FASTER THAN EXPECTED IN SECOND QUARTER
U.S. GDP expanded by a respectable 2.4 percent in this year’s second quarter, the commerce department reported.
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CONSENSUS BUILDS AROUND “SOFT LANDING,” END TO FED’S RATE HIKES
Analysts and investors are coalescing around the view that the U.S. Federal Reserve has tamed inflation without knocking the U.S. economy into a recession—creating a “soft landing”—and will end its series of interest rate increases, perhaps as soon as next month.
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GAMBLERS STEER CLEAR OF CONSUMER STOCKS
Equity investors are diverting money from consumer stocks that are likely to fare badly in a recession, indicating that market players are not fully convinced an economic downturn has been avoided.