J.P. Morgan has signed a five-year contract with the U.S. treasury to audit the approximately 1.7 billion payments government agencies make each year to ensure that the payments are accurate and genuine, Wall Street on Parade (WSOP) reported.
Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT – Oct 24 2023
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EMPLOYER HEALTH INSURANCE COSTS RISE FASTEST IN 12 YEARS
The cost of employer-sponsored health insurance coverage is rising an average of 7 percent next year to about $24,000 per employee, the sharpest yearly increase since 2011, according to health care research organization KFF.
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HOME SALES FALL TO SLOWEST PACE SINCE 2010
In September, home sales fell 2 percent from August and reached their lowest annual pace since October 2010, sunk by steadily rising interest rates through this year. Sales for the month declined 15.4 percent from the same month in 2022.
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HOME FORECLOSURES INCREASE 28 PERCENT IN THIRD QUARTER
The number of home foreclosures across the U.S. grew 28 percent in this year’s third quarter, year over year, reaching 124,539, real estate research service ATTOM reported.
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LATE LOAN PAYMENTS GROWING IN NUMBER
Persons who borrowed during and after the COVID War are now falling behind in their payments “at unusually high rates,” according to the Financial Times.
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RISING BOND YIELDS EVENTUALLY WILL SWAMP CONSUMERS, BLACKSTONE CHIEF WARNS
Rising yields on the 10-year U.S. treasury bond, now brushing up against 5 percent, will eventually crimp consumer spending and slow the economy, Jonathan Gray, president of Blackstone Group, the world’s largest asset manager, said last week in a Financial Times interview.
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CONFERENCE BOARD’S ECONOMIC INDICATOR SHOWS RECESSION AHEAD
The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index, which tracks business cycles, fell 0.7 percent to 104.7 in September, its 18th month in a row showing declining economic activity.
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WORRIES INCREASE OVER U.S. DEBT, BUDGET CRISIS
Uncertainty about whether the U.S. Congress will raise the debt limit has helped push bond prices to multi-decade lows and given the U.S. Federal Reserve second thoughts about raising interest rates again when it meets next week, Bloomberg reported.
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THIS YEAR’S FEDERAL DEFICIT PASSES $1.7 TRILLION
In the U.S. government’s current fiscal year, the annual budget deficit roughly doubled to $2 trillion, even though the treasury reported the shortfall as $1.7 trillion, The New York Times reported.
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ECONOMIC UPDATE – MARKET OVERVIEW
Where are the global economies and equity markets going?
They, as well as the lives of billions, are going to Hell, right in front of the eyes and ears of all who have the courage and dedication to watch, look, and listen.