U.S. industrial production edged up just 0.2 percent in May, compared to 1.4 percent in April, while factory output slipped 0.1 percent, its first slip since January, the U.S. commerce department reported. Industrial production measures economic activity among manufacturing, mining, and utilities. Mines’ output rose 1.3 percent; utilities delivered 1 percent more. Factories in the...
Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT
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ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN
Consumer spending is softening, home starts and sales are down, industrial output is weakening with factory production in decline, and the U.S. Federal Reserve has just boosted its key interest rate the most in one jump since 1994. The Federal Bank of Atlanta’s closely-watched GDPNow gauge of economic strength indicates the U.S. economy will flatline...
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FED LIFTS INTEREST RATE BY 75 BASIS POINTS
On 15 June, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by three-quarters of a point, the largest such increase since 1994. The Fed also indicated that it will continue to raise rates at every meeting this year in its attempt to quell inflation, which set a 40-year record pace of 8.6 percent in...
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INVESTORS DUMP CORPORATE BONDS
During the week ending 15 June, investors took $6.6 billion out of funds that buy high-yield “junk” bonds, raising the total withdrawal this year to $35 billion, data service EPFR reported. The spread between treasury yields and those of junk bonds moved up two-thirds of a point last week to 5.17 points, the widest gap...
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THEY GOT IT WRONG: MORTGAGE RATES RISE AT FASTEST PACE IN 35 YEARS
Go back to the beginning of the year. Ms. Fannie Mae missed her prediction that the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate would barely move up from 3.1 percent to 3.3 percent by the end of this year. And even those doing the banking business got it wrong, with The Mortgage Bankers Association having forecasted that...
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ECONOMIC UPDATE – MARKET OVERVIEW
ECONOMIC OVERVIEW Stay in the mainstream, stay stupid, stay out of touch. Yes, moronic masses swallow the crap and obey what their governments—run by imbecilic, arrogant, mentally ill politicians—flush into the mainstream that their media whores sell. And by following their leaders and obeying their orders, not only has freedom been stolen, the future has...
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YELLEN DEFENDS HER SUPPORT OF STIMULUS SPENDING
In her January 2021 confirmation hearing, then-nominee and now U.S. treasury secretary Janet Yellen told the Senate it was time to “act big” to stimulate the economy and pass president Joe Biden’s almost $2-trillion American Rescue Plan to boost the economy and American consumers back to post-COVID financial health. The plan boosted the federal minimum...
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YELLEN DOWNPLAYS RECESSION RISK
“There’s nothing to suggest a recession is in the works” for the U.S. economy, treasury secretary Janet Yellen said in an interview during last week’s New York Times economic forum. “Of course there’s a recession risk,” she added, “but is it likely? I don’t think so.” Yellen tried to buffer increasing pessimism about the economy’s...
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AMERICAN TRAVELERS ARE BACK ON THE ROAD
Even with inflation at a record high, Americans are booking foreign trips for June, July, and August at 97 percent of pre-COVID levels as virus-related travel restrictions ease worldwide, according to data from travel research firm ForeignKeys. Tickets to destinations in the Caribbean are at 109 percent of 2019’s volume, the service reported, with jaunts...
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COMMERCIAL PROPERTY SALES SLOWING
For the first time in more than a year, sales of commercial real estate in April fell, year over year. The value of sales for the month fell 16 percent, year over year, to $39.4 billion, MSCI Real Assets reported, an abrupt reversal of March’s 57-percent annual gain. Before April, sales values had risen for...