Inflation and interest rate hikes are causing companies in every sector to lay off thousands of employees, a clear sign that a recession is coming. Rising mortgage rates and declining home sales are shrinking brokerages’ profits. Demand was 17 percent lower than expected in May. Compass is laying off 10 percent of its 4,800 person...
Tag: june 21 2022
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MOST CEOs EXPECT A RECESSION
Six in ten top corporate executives expect a recession within 12 to 18 months, according to a May survey by the Conference Board, and another 15 percent think one has already begun in the areas of the world in which they operate. Late last year, only 22 percent of executives polled expected a recession. A...
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OIL SUPPLIES WILL STRUGGLE TO MEET 2023 DEMAND
Oil supplies risk failing to meet global demands next year, even though current high prices and slowing economies point to a shrinking market, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said last week in its first forecast for 2023. This year’s 1.8-million barrel-a-day growth in demand comes from developed economies, the agency said, but rising demand among...
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STOCKS DIVE ON RATE HIKES
The sudden spate of interest rate increases last week by central banks in Europe and the U.S. has sent stock prices tumbling in one of their worst performances since the COVID War began. The Bank of England (BoE), the Swiss National Bank, and the National Bank of Hungary all lifted rates last week the day...
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CENTRAL BANKS IN EUROPE HIKE RATES, DOLLAR SINKS
On 16 June, several central banks in Europe suddenly raised interest rates, some without warning, after the U.S. Federal Reserve hiked its key rate the day before by three-quarters of a point. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) raised its interest rate from -0.75 percent to -0.25, the bank’s first rate increase since 2007. Most analysts...
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PRIVATE EQUITY LANDLORDS DRAW REGULATORS’ ATTENTION
For years, private equity firms have been buying single-family houses to rent out at premium prices, a trend that accelerated during the COVID War as the firms broadened their portfolios to include apartment buildings and even student housing. As home prices have skyrocketed, investment companies have swooped in, offering cash on the spot to sellers...
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SOARING HOUSING COST REACHES MOBILE HOME PARKS
The high cost of houses and apartment rents has pushed more people with low incomes into mobile home parks, where surging demand is driving up rents in what has become the last housing refuge for those of modest means. About 6 percent of U.S. residences are so-called “manufactured homes,” housing roughly 20 million Americans, according...
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SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA HURTING U.S., OFFICIALS ADMIT
While the mainstream media ignored our forecast, and President Joe Biden, as we reported extensively, told the American people and the world that the sanctions he and NATO imposed on Moscow would hurt Putin and not We the People, they are now changing their tune. The economic sanctions that Western allies imposed on Russia after...
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RETAIL SALES DOWN, PRICES UP
Consumers spent 0.3 percent less in May on retail and food-service purchases than in April, confounding analysts’ prediction of a 0.1-percent gain and notching the first monthly decline in consumer spending this year. April’s spending edged up 0.7 percent, month on month. May sales actually rose 0.5 percent when vehicle purchases were excluded from the...
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INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION SLOWS IN MAY
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...