The 25 members of the European Central Bank’s (ECB’s) governing council that sets interest rates thought they were ready to flip the switch on their well-publicized quarter-point rate hike this month. “They were wrong,” the Financial Times reported. The problem: borrowing costs have risen for European Union countries with feeble economies, especially Italy, leading to...
Tag: July 12 2022
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IS THE COMMODITIES SUPERCYCLE OVER OR JUST PAUSED?
Seeing an economic slowdown in China and fearing a worldwide recession as central banks hike interest rates, commodities investors are bailing out into dollars and other safe harbors. Copper was trading barely above $7,500 a ton last week, down 25 percent from its peak last fall above $10,700. Copper continued to plunge on Monday, 11...
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NEW WORLD DISORDER TOP TREND: GERMANY RATIONS POWER AS RUSSIA CUTS GAS SUPPLIES
Getting what they asked for by putting sanctions on Russia, German officials are rationing hot water, dimming street lights, and closing swimming pools as natural gas prices continue to soar after Russia cut back natural gas exports to Europe last month. “The situation is more than dramatic,” Axel Gedaschko, head of GdW, a federation of...
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NEW WORLD DISORDER TOP TREND: EMERGING NATIONS DIVING INTO DEBT DEFAULT
The number of emerging nations with troubled sovereign bonds has doubled in the first half of this year to include 19 nations that are home to 900 million people, with El Salvador, Egypt, Ghana, Pakistan, and Tunisia especially vulnerable, Bloomberg reported. The value of the distressed debt has reached $237 billion, about 17 percent of...
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START-UP FUNDS DRY UP
Funds invested in tech start-ups sank by 23 percent to $62.3 billion in April, May, and June this year, the smallest amount for the same period since 2019, data service Pitchbook reported. Tech start-ups usually repay their investors by going public or selling themselves. However, those transactions plummeted 88 percent to $49 billion during the...
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FINANCIAL SQUEEZE TIGHTENS ON OFFICE LANDLORDS
Already losing tenants due to remote work, owners of office buildings find themselves pinched by rising interest rates and tenants’ fears of recession that could lead to layoffs and even more space reductions. Vacancy rates in many traditional business hubs such as Chicago, New York, and San Francisco reached record high levels over the past...
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AS FORECAST: COMPANIES CUTTING OFFICE SPACE
When the COVID War was launched back in 2020, we had forecast the work-at-home trend would be a permanent part of the new world order… and it has. With costs rising and a recession looming, U.S. companies are cutting costs by axing office space they no longer need and never will again. The permanent shift...
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RED STATES FARED BETTER THAN BLUE ONES IN THE COVID ERA
Since COVID’s arrival in February 2020, red states where Republicans hold sway have benefited more in economic terms than Democrat-controlled blue states, The Wall Street Journal reported. The shift to remote work freed hundreds of thousands of workers to live where they choose. The COVID-era real estate boom also convinced many Baby Boomers to cash...
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AVERAGE NEW-CAR PAYMENT HITS NEW HIGH
New cars purchased in June in the U.S. carried a record average monthly payment of $686, according to car sales website Edmunds.com. The figure is 4 percent higher than January’s average and 13 percent more than a year earlier. Another record: 12.7 percent of June buyers signed up for car payments of at least $1,000...
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U.S. MORTGAGE WEEKLY RATE FALLS MOST IN 13 YEARS
The national average interest rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage fell from 5.7 percent during the week ending 30 June to 5.3 percent by 7 July, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (FHLMC). It was the second consecutive week of lower rates and the largest one-week drop since 2008. Mortgage rates tend to...