Month: September 2023

The Friday File: Smucker’s Uncrustables, the lunchbox treats first produced in 1995, were introduced to stores in 2000. Sales are expected to hit $800 million in FY2024. Currently, four million of the sandwiches are produced each day in Denver, CO…

August CPI rose a sharp 0.6% M-o-M, largely attributable to costlier gasoline. Core inflation rose 0.3% M-o-M, its highest reading since May, but just 4.3% Y-o-Y, its lowest reading since 9/21 and its 10th decline in 11 months. However, core…

The resumption of student loan payments on 10/1/23 is likely to knock 0.25 percentage points off quarterly annualized GDP. A government closure will knock 0.2 percentage points per week off quarterly annualized GDP, and a UAW strike against all three…

Pricey Payments High rates have pushed up the average interest and principal payment for new borrowers using a 30-year mortgage to $2,306. Similarly, two years ago 5% of new borrowers had a payment over $3,000/month, today it’s almost 25%. Moreover,…

While gasoline prices have increased somewhat since May as the price of WTI crude has risen by 13%, diesel prices are up over 40% over the same period. It’s because in May Saudi Arabia, Russia, and others in OPEC+ surprised…

The Friday File: During 1H23, AMC Theaters grossed $2.3 billion. Ticket sales generated $1.3 billion, other categories including advertising, auditorium rental, arcade games, etc. generated $200 million, and food and beverage spawned $817 million. Amazingly, food and beverage costs were…

Since 2020, the employed foreign-born population of the U.S. has increased by 9.9%. It took until 21Q4 for this population to return to where it was pre-Covid. As for the native-born population, it is now 0.7% higher than it was…

Student loans began accruing interest on 9/1/23 and loan payments are due starting 10/1/23, clipping GDP by one-fifth of a point. Additionally, the odds of a 10/1/23 government closure are rising, and that would knock off an astounding one-fifth of…

August payrolls grew by 187,000, and June and July were revised sharply down and now show growth of 105,000 and 157,000, respectively, the first three-month sub-200,000 stretch since mid-2019. The unemployment rate rose from 3.5% to 3.8%, and wage growth…

The Friday File: In 2000, avocado imports to the U.S. totaled 170 million pounds and avocado consumption was 2 pounds/person. By 2021, imports totaled 2.5 billion pounds, an increase of roughly 1,400%, as consumption rose to 8 pounds/person. With domestic…