Month: November 2016

President-elect Trump’s and Congress’ preliminary policy ideas look possibly problematic for housing. On one hand, dismantling Dodd-Frank should loosen lending standards and tax cuts will put more money in our pockets. However, higher interest rates and a shrinking supply of…

Assuming Trump wins MI where he’s ahead, and Clinton wins NH where she’s ahead, the final electoral college tally will be 306 to 232 for Trump. The three states Clinton lost where she was closest to winning were Michigan, with…

The Friday File: The most extreme hyperinflation ever recorded was in 7/46 in Hungary at 41,900,000,000,000,000% or 41.9 quadrillion percent/month, amounting a doubling of prices every 15.3 hours. Most recently the award went to Zimbabwe in 11/08, when inflation peaked…

Trump’s plans to replace Fed Chair Yellen on 2/3/18 when her term expires is bad news; she is doing a very good job. What is worse, however, is his attacking the Federal Reserve for being politically motivated. These comments weaken…

Despite probably losing the popular vote, but with his vote totals within the margin-of-error of the polls, Donald Trump will be the 45th president of the US. Expect no rate rise in December and as Brexit showed, there’s no reason…

After peaking at $4 trillion in 6/15, China’s foreign exchange holdings have steadily fallen and are now $3.12 trillion, their lowest level since 3/11. The decline would be larger absent China’s trade surplus of roughly $50 billion/month which boosts China’s…

Friday’s October employment report was good! 161,000 net new jobs and upward revisions totaling 44,000 for August and September show a continuing strengthening labor market. Monthly wage growth registered 0.4%; the second-best reading since 1/15, and Y-o-Y wage growth of…

The Friday File: Watching scary movies, think Halloween, causes the body to release an increased amount of a blood-clotting protein known as factor VIII by about 11.1 units per deciliter of plasma compared to watching an educational movie, enough to…

The nation’s second largest auto lender wrote off an annualized 1.37% of its outstanding auto loans in Q3, up from 1.01% in Q2. Why? Used car prices are falling for the first time since 2008 as the number of cars…

Clinton’s probability of winning the general election hit a post-Labor Day high of 88% on 10/17, two days before the third debate. Since then it’s steadily declined and now stands at 68%. Were the election today, Clinton would probably receive…