Archive for September 2022

The Friday File: According to NATO (National Association of Theater Owners) in 1995 there were 7,151 indoor and 593 outdoor US cinema sites. Those locations had 26,995 indoor screens, 3.8 screens/site, and 848 outdoor screens, 1.4 screens/site. By 3/20, indoor sites numbered just 5,477 and outdoor sites just 321, but the number of indoor screens…

During 8/22, asking rents rose 0.4%, and while historically very high, they are way down from the 1.9% rise in 8/21. Pre-Covid, rent hikes in August were about 0.2%. Similarly, Y-o-Y asking rents are also declining. They increased 10.5% through August, well down from the February Y-o-Y peak of 15.7%. Looking at the data on…

In a historically strong labor market, with two job openings/unemployed person, and a labor friendly administration in the White House, it’s unsurprising that in the first half of 2022 employees at 1,400 workplaces filed unionization petitions with the NLRB, up 69% Y-o-Y, and the highest level since 2015. Moreover, through 8/15/22, 15 strikes involving at…

While August CPI inflation was 8.3% Y-o-Y, down from 8.5% in July and 9.1% in June, it was disappointing; 8.1% is what was expected. More concerning, core inflation, which removes food and energy prices to get a fix on domestic inflationary pressures increased from 5.9% in June and July to 6.3%, and M-o-M jumped from…

On 12/31/19, household and nonprofit organization net worth totaled $116.4 trillion, then quickly sank to $110.3 trillion by 3/31/20 due to the Covid-19 induced stock market decline. Over the next seven quarters, with the government stimulus and a rebounding economy, net worth zoomed to a stratospheric $150.0 trillion in 21Q4. It’s since fallen by $150…

The Friday File: On 09/08/22, Queen Elizabeth II died at 96. On the throne for 70 years, she was the longest reigning British monarch, surpassing the 63 years set by her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria. Her son, now King Charles III, at 73 was the longest serving heir-apparent in British history at 70 years. She advised…

With European energy prices stratospheric, the pressure on governments to intervene is profound. However, all solutions aren’t equal. Capping prices is the worst solution; it encourages consumption by making energy artificially cheap. A subsidy on the amount of energy consumed by the median household is OK, it discourages demand beyond the subsidized quantity. Ideally, give…

The number of passengers going through a TSA checkpoint on 8/28/22 was 2,311,805 compared to 1,887,845 on 8/28/19, the first time 2019 totals were bested post-pandemic. To prove it wasn’t a fluke, over the 2019 Labor Day weekend 8.62 million travelers went through a TSA checkpoint, while this past Labor Day weekend it was 8.76…

August’s employment report is best described as Goldilocks. Most importantly, 786,000 persons entered the labor force, pushing the labor force participation rate from 62.1% to 62.4%. While some found work, others didn’t. As a result, the unemployment rate rose from 3.5% to 3.7%. Better yet for the Fed, M-o-M average hourly earnings declined from 0.5%…

The Friday File: Recently, a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle baseball card sold at auction for $12.5 million, a new record that broke the previous sports memorabilia record set this May of $9.3 million for Diego Maradona’s “hand of God” jersey worn in 1986. The prior record for a trading card was $7.25 million for a…