Econ70
April housing starts came in at 891,000, down 29.7% Y-o-Y and a level last consistently seen in 2013, but through April starts are up 3.7% YTD. Starts will probably be down Y-o-Y for the next four or five months but…
In a proposed merger that regulators must prevent, Uber Technologies is trying to acquire Grubhub for $6 billion. Grubhub competes directly with Uber subsidiary Uber Eats. The combined firm would control slightly more than half of the third-party meal delivery…
The Friday File: Back in the heyday of TV 1955-2000, when there were growing numbers of local TV affiliates, the average TV series lasted two years and had about 20 episodes/year. With the rise of streaming and away from syndication,…
The unemployment rate for those with less than a HS diploma is now a staggering 21.2%, up from just 5.2% at the end of 2019. For those with a HS diploma, the respective numbers are 17.2%, up from 3.7% in…
US higher education will soon suffer a raft of smaller college closures. This is due to endowments and endowment income being down, sports revenue being nonexistent, and refunds being up due to Covid-19 campus closures. Add in tax revenue declines,…
In 20Q1, US GDP fell 4.8% on an annualized basis; 1.2% on a quarterly basis. In 20Q2, I expect US GDP to fall by 30% annualized, or 7.5% on a quarterly basis. Combined, the GDP decline in 20H1 totals 8.7%.…
The 20.5 million job losses in April wiped out a decade of job gains and are ten times the previous record monthly job loss of 2 million set in 11/45. The only silver lining, 18 million of those losing their…
The Friday File: While sales of paper products and comfort foods spiked in March and early April, they’re returning to normal. Not so for alcohol! For the five weeks ending 4/18, retail sales are up an average of 24%, with…
In 2019, for the first time since 1952, US energy exports of 23.6 quadrillion British thermal units (quads), exceeded energy imports of 22.8 quads. In 2019, the US was a net importer of 9 quads of crude oil but a…
While residential remodeling, which is as big as new single-family construction, has generally grown by about 5% a year since the Great Recession of 2008/09, things are changing. The combination of job losses, fear of job losses, declining household income,…