The Friday File: While Ken Jennings’ record of 74 games and $2,520,700 in winnings is not yet in jeopardy, at 30 games and counting, Jamie Ding is just two wins away, tying James Holzhauer for 4th place. As for total…
US retail sales grew by a staggering 1.7% M-o-M in March, the best monthly gain in three years. Even after stripping out sales at gas stations which rose 15.5% M-o-M due to rising prices, the increase was still a solid…
The recent rate run up saw the homebuilder sentiment index sink to 34 M-o-M, the biggest decline in 11 months, and the lowest sentiment level in seven months. Worse, the last time the index was in expansion territory (50+) was…
Banks say their private credit holdings are senior, secured, and diversified, yet they’re making markets in credit default swaps on private-credit vehicles by Blackstone and others. While not a conflict of interest, they’re building infrastructure, making bearish private credit positions…
Since the Iran War began, the stock market has been unusually volatile, right? Wrong! US equities have been less volatile than usual. The S&P 500 has swung at least 1% between its intraday high and low on 49 days YTD.…
The Friday File: On Earth, a sidereal day, one full spin relative to the stars, lasts 23h 56m. Mercury rotates in 58d 16h; Venus takes 243d (and spins backward). Mars: 24h 37m. Jupiter spins in 9h 55m, Saturn in 10h…
The Treasury estimates 169 million Americans file individual income tax returns/year. On average each person spends 12 hours and 37 minutes on them. That’s 2.1 billion hours, which are worth $45 billion, plus out-of-pocket costs of almost $49 billion, which…
While oil prices have risen dramatically due to the Iran War, US natural gas prices have marginally declined. Moreover, higher oil prices may cause natural gas prices to decline further. Why? Because high oil prices should encourage US oil producers…
In 1/23 non-residential construction spending ex-data centers (NRCSEDC) was up 30% Y-o-Y and data center construction spending (DCCS) was up 43%. In 1/24 those numbers were 11% and 57%, respectively. NRCSEDC remained positive Y-o-Y through 7/24 when it was 0.3%.…
March CPI rose a staggering 0.9% M-o-M, the most since 6/22, and that commensurately reduced inflation-adjusted salaries by almost one percentage point. With Y-o-Y inflation up 3.3%, led by a 21.2% M-o-M rise in gasoline, inflation-adjusted salaries are up just…