In summer 2022, Congress passed the Chips and Science Act that allotted $39 billion to strengthen the domestic semiconductor industry.
Tag: U.S. economy
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HIGH INTEREST RATES ARE A WINDFALL FOR SAVERS
Last week, Americans dumped about $36 billion into money market funds to take advantage of yields that have shot past 5 percent, a rate of return not seen for more than a decade.
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MORTGAGE RATES REACH THEIR HIGHEST IN 21 YEARS. WHAT’S NEXT?
The national average interest rate on the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage in the U.S. reached 7.09 percent last week, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. reported, up from 6.96 percent the week before to reach its highest since April 2002.
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JULY RETAIL SALES BETTER THAN EXPECTED?
In July, U.S. consumers spent 0.7 percent more dollars compared to June and 3.2 percent more than a year earlier, the commerce department reported. Retail sales on items other than energy and food were up 1.0 percent from the month before.
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DEBT BOMB: HIGHER INTEREST RATES LEAVE U.S. GOVERNMENT NO GOOD OPTIONS
During the 14 years that the U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates low, the U.S. government borrowed freely to haul the economy out of the Great Recession, continue to fight the Afghan war, and bail out businesses and consumers during the COVID War.
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YIELD ON 10-YEAR T-NOTE REACHES 15-YEAR HIGH, RATTLING INVESTORS
On 17 August, the benchmark 10-year treasury note closed at 4.307 percent, which was its highest close since 2007. The 30-year treasury bond was paying 4.411 percent on the same day.
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ECONOMIC UPDATE – MARKET OVERVIEW
It’s barely mainstream news. Most people don’t have a clue what in the real world is going on. Flooded with “news” about Donald Trump indictments, Women’s World Cup soccer, the latest tropical storm, etc., the socioeconomic and geopolitical trends shaping the future aren’t clickbait worthy to capture the crowd.
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MAJOR SOURCE OF COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE LOANS DRIES UP
Blackstone Mortgage Trust and KKR Real Estate Finance Trust, two of the largest mortgage-focused real estate investment trusts, originated no new loans during the first half of this year, The Wall Street Journal reported. Starwood Property Trust, another key private source of mortgages for the commercial sector, also has slashed its pace of lending over the past......
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U.S. BANKS LOSE $18.9 BILLION TO BAD LOANS
In this year’s second quarter, U.S. banks booked $18.9 billion in losses, the most in any quarter since the second quarter of 2020 when anti-COVID lockdowns crashed the economy. The number is up 17 percent from the first three months of this year and 75 percent compared to the same period last year. About $10.7......
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U.S. INFLATION TICKS UP
The U.S. consumer price index grew at an annual pace of 3.2 percent last month, a slight rise from June’s 3.0 percent but still lower than many analysts had forecast.