Econ70

The Friday File: The longest nonstop flight is JFK to SIN (Singapore) at 19h 15m. Second is EWR (Newark) to SIN at 19h 10m. Third, at a mere 17h 50m, are PER (Perth) to LHR (London) and JFK to AKL…

October headline CPI was 0.4%, core was 0.3%, both unfortunately above expectations. Moreover, headline CPI jumped 0.4% in August and 0.6% in September, pushing the annualized three-month trend to a troubling 5.7%. As for core, it’s up 0.3% M-o-M three…

Among civilians 18+, the state with the greatest share of veterans is Alaska; they’re 9.7% of the population. In second is Virginia at 9%, followed by Montana at 8.6%. The state with the lowest percentage of veterans is NY at…

Annualized 26Q3 non-farm business labor productivity growth came in at an astounding 3.6%, pushing annualized 26Q3 unit labor costs into negative territory: -0.7%. Moreover, 26Q2 annualized labor productivity growth was just upwardly revised from 1.4% to 2.1%. This means there…

The US added 165,000 jobs in October, August/September were upwardly revised 84,000, the unemployment rate fell from 4.2% to 4.1%, and the labor force participation rate improved from 61.8% to 61.9%. This is as good as it gets. However, pay…

The Friday File: Most TV shows that go into syndication slowly lose viewership and eventually syndication rights experience shrinkage and become worthless. Not Seinfeld. Incredibly, 72 million Americans watched at least one “Seinfeld” episode during January-August of 2026. As a…

For the week ending 10/30/26, first-time mortgage applications are down 19% Y-o-Y, at levels last seen in 2023/24 and before that in 1995. Moreover, applications to refinance a home mortgage are down 60% Y-o-Y, at levels last seen in 2023/24…

With the unemployment rate at 4.2%, the labor market is relatively tight, yet wage and salary growth has been anemic at 3.1% Y-o-Y (less than inflation), compared with 3.6% a year ago. Rising employer healthcare costs, up a stunning 6.4%…

When Trump won election on 11/16, the 10-year Treasury quickly rose 19bps because tax cuts were suddenly highly likely. Similarly, when Trump won two years ago the yield on the same bond jumped 16bps. But when the Republicans lost the…

While the political winners and losers of tomorrow’s election have yet to be determined, economics and the economy are guaranteed losers. In the past both parties consulted with top economists to help shape their respective agendas. Of late, both parties…