Month: February 2023

The Fed is currently focusing on what is called super-core inflation, defined as overall CPI minus food and energy, goods, and housing. Food and energy are 11% of consumer spending, housing is 16%, and goods are 24%. Thus, super-core inflation…

Home sales eased for the 12th straight month in 1/23, the longest streak of monthly declines since 1999 when data collection began. Sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 4 million, from 4.03 million in December, and 4.1…

The first restaurant to allow drivers to take meals “to go” was an In-N-Out Burger that opened in 1948, Jack in the Box followed in 1951. McDonald’s first drive-through was in 1975. In 2022, at U.S. fast-food restaurants 85% of…

Pounded Profit With 23Q1 earnings season almost over, it appears net profits for S&P 500 firms will be 11.3%. While this would be the sixth straight quarterly decline, and well down from their 21Q2 13% peak, it returns profits to…

At the end of 2022, 9.3% of subprime borrowers, those with FICO scores below 660, were 30 days or more behind on their car payments. This is the highest rate since 2010. In addition to being squeezed financially, it’s partly…

In 22Q4, for the first time since at least 1974 when data became available, the quarterly number of housing units built-for-rent at 133,000 exceeded the number of single-family units built-for-sale at 126,000. Historically, the only times these numbers came close…

The state with the most presidents births is Virginia with eight, followed by Ohio with seven, New York with five, and Massachusetts with four. Those states account for 52.2% of all presidents. New Jersey and Vermont both have three, and…

The Friday File: In calendar year 2022, of the 100 most-watched U.S. television broadcasts, Super Bowl LVI was the most watched, not a big surprise. However, of the top 10 most watched shows last year, nine were NFL games, and…

From 1976 through 1979, 418,000 entry-level single-family houses/year were built, 34% of all new homes constructed. In the 1980s, the number fell to 314,000/year, still 33% of all new homes built. In the 1990s it shrank to just 207,000/year, and…

While inflation fell from 6.5% Y-o-Y in 12/22 to 6.4% in 1/23, and core inflation similarly declined from 5.7% to 5.6%, its fourth straight decline, the declines are moderating. Worse, core-services inflation, which excludes energy and is the Fed’s favorite…