Econ70

SCOTUS invalidated all country-specific tariffs. Last week another court invalidated the tariffs introduced to replace the initial tariffs. This means replacement tariff monies will also have to be returned to the importers/wholesalers/retailers, which will boost their profits as they ALREADY…

April net job growth was a strong 115,000, February/March were revised down just 16,000, and the workweek rose to 34.3, awesome. While the unemployment rate held at 4.3%, it was courtesy of the declining labor force participation rate, now 61.8%.…

The Friday File: The number of identified and named species totals 2.17 million. 1 million are insects, 369,000 are flowering plants, 157,648 are mushrooms, 97,085 are arachnids, 37,288 are fishes, and 21,925 are mosses. 12,502 are Reptiles, 11,185 are birds,…

While a wealth transfer exceeding $20 trillion from the Silent Generation (pre-1946) is underway, Boomers (1946-1964) hold $100 trillion and Gen X (1965-1980) $50 trillion, and they’re living longer especially if they’re very high income. Thus, when heirs inherit money…

February and March new home sales rebounded from January’s dismal 583,000 seasonally adjusted annualized sales (SAAS), the weakest monthly total since 10/22. Yes, March sales were up 7.4% M-o-M but were up just 3.3% Y-o-Y, and sales have been tightly…

March auto loan default rates rose to their highest level since 2010. 30% of 26Q1 borrowers were upside down and owed an average of $7,200 on their trade-in, a 42% jump compared to 2021. These borrowers have higher payments and…

On 3/31/26, publicly held US debt totaled $31.265 trillion, and GDP was $31.216 trillion, putting the debt/GDP ratio at 100.2%. It’s fast approaching the post-WWII 1946 peak of 106.1%. At present, 1/7th of all federal spending is interest payments. The…

The Friday File: The Las Vegas Sphere, which opened years late in 9/23 and almost $1 billion over budget, is now profitable, and is the world’s highest earning arena. Last year it grossed $379 million on 1.7 million tickets. That’s…

March economic data has been excellent but may be quite misleading. Housing starts were hot, employment growth was excellent and retail sales rocked, but income tax refunds supported spending, households are stockpiling in anticipation of war-related price hikes, and there…

Powell’s last Fed meeting as Chair was notable for four dissents, most since 1992. Miran, a Trump appointee there to hold incoming chair Warsh’s seat, as usual wanted a cut, but three bank presidents objected to any “easing bias” suggesting…