Import prices are where at least some tariff impacts would manifest themselves. Yet M-o-M September import inflation was 0.0%, August was a miniscule 0.1%, and July was 0.3%, it appears to be declining. Additionally, Y-o-Y import inflation is a benign…
October existing home sales were 4.1 million annualized units, essentially unchanged from September’s 4.05 million units. For some perspective, this is the same activity level that prevailed in 10/08, during the middle of the Housing Bust and a month after…
With the government now operating, we are getting waves of data. Weekly first-time claims for unemployment insurance are now in and the news is excellent. Initial jobless claims fell to 216,000 for the week of 11/22/25, their lowest since the…
The Friday File: While it took thousands of years to turn wolves into domesticated dogs, evolution is working faster with racoons and making them cuter. Easy food rewards bolder racoons, who are willing to rummage through garbage, but also well-behaved…
On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of George Washington’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, President George H.W. Bush officially formalized the turkey pardon tradition we know of today in 1989. The state with the most turkey pardons is Minnesota with 10,…
During the Housing Bust and Covid, the Fed not only bought massive quantities of Treasuries as part of Quantitative Easing but also a huge number of mortgage-backed securities. Should the next recession occur relatively soon expect the Fed to again…
September net employment was superficially decent at 119,000, but hold any applause. July and August were revised down 33,000, almost all growth was in leisure & hospitality and healthcare, and job growth is steadily slowing. Four years ago, it was…
The most popular and third most popular paid and downloaded (not albums, not streamed, not airplay) country songs in America were written and sung by AI, alone. The songs are “Walk My Way” by (AI/digital artist) Breaking Rust and “Don’t…
Walmart just reported a blowout quarter. Revenue jumped 6% to $179.5 billion, online sales jumped 27%, advertising jumped 30%, and membership 9%! Conversely, Target just reported its third straight quarter of negative sale-store sales and next will be negative too…
The share of the US population that describes themselves as middle class has slid from a very solid 85% a decade ago to just 54% today. Relatedly, the percentage that now consider themselves lower or working class is over 40%.…