Month: December 2022
45% of U.S. adults consider wishing friends and family a Happy New Year an essential part of a New Year’s celebration. At 36%, the second most popular thing to do is watch the countdown on TV, followed by watching the…
Read MoreAfter climbing 2%/month in spring and summer 2021, and 1.5%/month in spring and summer 2022, in 9/22 M-o-M rents began falling. Since 10/22, all major rent indices have shown M-o-M rents falling, with the declines increasing and by well more…
Read MoreThe omnibus spending bill passed by Congress guarantees the government won’t shut down, that’s good. Unfortunately, it increases spending and that’s bad. Specifically, discretionary spending in FY23 will rise to $1.65 trillion up from $1.5 trillion in FY22, an increase…
Read MoreThe Friday File: Inflation, measured by the Christmas Price Index and based on purchasing each day’s items once in “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” jumped 10.5% in 2022, the most since 2008, to $45,523. Unsurprisingly, pear trees, a proxy for…
Read MoreMakers and sellers of oversized bows that decorate new cars are in a funk, with orders down compared to Christmas 2021. It’s because sales are soft, inventories are down, and people are increasingly purchasing cars they previously leased as new…
Read MoreDespite rising rates and recession fears, because of the top-to-bottom redesign of the home mortgage market resulting from Dodd-Frank and other laws and regulations, which have culminated in substantially tighter underwriting standards, it would take a 40% to 45% decline…
Read MoreWhile releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve totaling 180 million barrels will soon end, the benefits may not. The releases, intended to lower pump prices and which came under political pressure, were sold for an average price of $96.25/bbl. With…
Read MoreLooking at all World Cup winners from 1962 through 2018, economic analysis suggests winning the WC boosts domestic GDP by at least 0.25% in the two subsequent quarters primarily due to export growth. For example, 1.12 billion people watched the…
Read MoreThe Friday File: The holiday of Hanukkah begins this Sunday night. This is the 2,187th time the holiday celebration commemorating the liberation of Jerusalem and the rededication of Second Temple will be celebrated. Over the course of the eight-day holiday,…
Read MoreAs recently as 2/22, M-o-M house prices appreciated 1.9%, and in 3/22 they rose 2.1%, the two strongest months ever. Then appreciation rates slowed. In April appreciation was 1.7%, in May 1.3%, and in June just 0.2%. Then prices started…
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