Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT

Despite rampant inflation, U.S. shoppers spent 1.7 percent more in October than in September, according to the U.S. commerce department. Spending climbed 4 percent at online retailers, 3.9 percent among gas stations, 2.2 percent at department stores, 1.8 percent for auto dealers, 1.5 percent among book, hobby, music, and sporting goods stores, and 1.1 percent...

In June through September, the U.S. labor department under-reported the number of filled jobs in the economy by 626,000, an average of 156,500 per month and the largest under-estimate on record for any four-month stretch. After July posted 943,000 new jobs, August’s report found the economy had created only 235,000, which was seen as a...

Share values of computer chip makers Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia, and Qualcomm have shot up 34 percent, 48 percent, and 40 percent, respectively, since mid-October as the global chip shortage drives chip prices steadily higher. Chip makers have been among leaders in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, which has gained 3.9 percent over the...

STOCKS FALL AS COVID WAR HEATS UP IN EUROPE The tech-focused NASDAQ gained 4 percent last week, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.7 percent and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 0.1 percent as new COVID-inspired lockdowns in Europe sent investors scurrying to the safety of the dollar and government bonds, The...

About a third of office businesses in New York City will reduce their needs for space in the next five years, according to a survey this month by the nonprofit Partnership for New York City. Most businesses expect workers to spend no more than three days a week in central offices, allowing companies to implement...

Median rent for an apartment in Manhattan rose 18 percent in October, year over year, reaching $3,382, the fastest yearly increase in a decade, according to a new monthly report from appraisal firm Miller Samuel and brokerage Douglas Elliman. The new median rent is just below the $3,409 median in October 2019. Renters unable to...

Surprise, surprise!  Actually, no surprise.  We have been forecasting this for years now and the data continues to prove it.  Rents for single-family homes rose 10.2 percent in the U.S. in September year over year, as Blackstone and other Bigs keep buying up homes and renting them out to the plantation workers of Slavelandia who...

The projected risk-adjusted annual rate of return on single-family homes built to rent is about 8 percent, the best investment performance among 18 real estate sectors, according to real estate advisory service Green Street. Soaring home prices and required large cash down payments have squeezed families out of the home-buying market that would have qualified...

Since 2011, the median U.S. home price increased about 30 percent, while incomes grew only 11 percent, according to Bankrate’s analysis of data from the National Association of Home Builders / Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index. Since 1971, after factoring in inflation, the price of the average home is up 118 percent, but incomes have...

Homes listed for sale from 1 July 2020 through 30 June 2021 spent a median of one week on the market before going under contract, according to a survey released 11 November by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), a record median sales speed dating back to 1989. In the COVID War, home buyers working...