The number of mortgage rate locks for the purchase of vacation homes dove 52 percent in this year’s first quarter compared to 2019 levels, according to data analyzed by USA Today.
Category: 18 April 2023
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APARTMENT BUILDING SALES SLOWEST SINCE 2009
The slump in commercial real estate has spread to apartment buildings, which were the sector’s top performers in 2021 when rental rates surged with demand as soaring home prices froze more households out of home ownership.
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U.S. CORPORATE PROFITS FALLING FASTEST SINCE EARLY 2020
Profits among companies listed on the Standard & Poor’s 500 index will report an average 6.8-percent drop in first-quarter earnings compared to the same period last year, data firm FactSet predicted.
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CONSUMERS BUY LESS IN MARCH, SHOWING PROOF OF SLOWING ECONOMY
For the second consecutive month, U.S. consumer spending retreated, falling 1 percent in dollar volume in March compared to February, the commerce department reported.
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FOOD PRICES FALL FOR FIRST TIME IN ALMOST THREE YEARS
In March, grocery prices fell for the first time since September 2020, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
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U.S. CPI FALLS TO 5 PERCENT IN MARCH BUT CORE INFLATION TICKED UP
In March, the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) slowed to an annual growth rate of 5 percent, its slowest since May 2021 and a full point below February’s 6-percent pace, the labor department reported.
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G7 NATIONS TO HELP DEVELOPING COUNTRIES CREATE DIGITAL CURRENCIES
Helping emerging nations create their own central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) will be among the topics on the agenda of the G7 group of leading wealthy countries when it meets this year to address the world’s rapidly expanding digital economy.
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U.S. INVESTMENT FUNDS SEE GREATER OPPORTUNITIES ABROAD
United States asset managers are increasing their holdings in stock markets abroad, prospecting for havens that minimize the impact of the high interest rates and economic uncertainty plaguing equity prices at home, the Financial Times reported.
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THE REASON TO OWN STOCKS INSTEAD OF BONDS IS DISAPPEARING
The “equity risk premium”—the extra profit investors collect for owning stocks instead of bonds—has shrunk to 1.59 percentage points, its smallest since October 2007, The Wall Street Journal reported.
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MEDIA COVERS UP TRACKING OF UNVACCINATED PEOPLE
In mid-February 2023, I reported that the U.S. government has secretly been tracking those who didn’t get the COVID jab, or are only partially jabbed, through a previously unknown surveillance program