The Friday File: US per capita beer consumption is tops in North Dakota at 45.8 gallons/year followed very closely by NH at 43.9, and Montana at 41.0. SD is next at 38.9, WI follows at 36.2. In 26th, the median…
August housing starts unexpectedly rose to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.575 million. While up 12.2% M-o-M, starts dipped 0.1% Y-o-Y. More significantly, single-family starts at 935,000, while up from 904,000 M-o-M are, ignoring the first months of Covid-19,…
While the 75bps hike in the Fed funds rate was fully anticipated, the surprise was the committee’s plan to raise rates another 125bps at their two remaining 2022 meetings. Moreover, they now finally forecast the unemployment rate to rise to…
Currently, the unemployment rate is 3.7%, up from 3.5% in July. While 3.5% equaled the 2/20 pre-covid low and is the lowest unemployment rate since 11/69, when we were in Vietnam, it dramatically understates labor market tightness. In 2/20, when…
Last Thursday (9/15/22) perfectly encapsulated our economy. Retail sales were up 0.3% M-o-M, but the prior month was revised down to -0.4% from 0%. Industrial production declined, led by a 2.3% fall in utilities output, as higher electric bills reduced…
The Friday File: According to NATO (National Association of Theater Owners) in 1995 there were 7,151 indoor and 593 outdoor US cinema sites. Those locations had 26,995 indoor screens, 3.8 screens/site, and 848 outdoor screens, 1.4 screens/site. By 3/20, indoor…
During 8/22, asking rents rose 0.4%, and while historically very high, they are way down from the 1.9% rise in 8/21. Pre-Covid, rent hikes in August were about 0.2%. Similarly, Y-o-Y asking rents are also declining. They increased 10.5% through…
In a historically strong labor market, with two job openings/unemployed person, and a labor friendly administration in the White House, it’s unsurprising that in the first half of 2022 employees at 1,400 workplaces filed unionization petitions with the NLRB, up…
While August CPI inflation was 8.3% Y-o-Y, down from 8.5% in July and 9.1% in June, it was disappointing; 8.1% is what was expected. More concerning, core inflation, which removes food and energy prices to get a fix on domestic…
On 12/31/19, household and nonprofit organization net worth totaled $116.4 trillion, then quickly sank to $110.3 trillion by 3/31/20 due to the Covid-19 induced stock market decline. Over the next seven quarters, with the government stimulus and a rebounding economy,…