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In the year ending 3/23, foreigners spent $53.31 billion buying U.S. homes, the sixth straight annual decline, and the lowest level since at least 2011. Foreign sales volume peaked in 2017 at $153.01 billion. From 4/22-3/23, foreign sales were less…

23Q2 GDP growth at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 2.4% gives the feeling that a recession is not near. However, in 23Q2 the Conference Board’s index of coincident economic indicators was at a 0.8% annual rate, while the index…

Today, Fitch Ratings downgraded the U.S.’s credit rating by one notch from a pristine AAA to AA+. In 2011, S&P was the first to downgrade the country’s rating from AAA to AA+, and that downgrade caused substantial market ructions. This…

Rather than weaken in the face of steep increases in the Fed funds rate, the first estimate of 23Q2 GDP accelerated to an annualized seasonally and inflation adjusted rate of 2.4%, up from 2% in 23Q1 and down slightly from…

The Friday File: Australian fitness guru Daniel Scali recently recaptured the record for the most pushups in one hour with an utterly amazing, and shoulder burning total of 3,249, or an astounding 54.15 pushups/minute! The previous record of 3,206 was…

Yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrials Average rose for the 13th day in a row. The last time that occurred was on 1/20/87, almost 40 years ago. Had the Dow Jones risen today it would have been the 14th day in…

To the surprise of no one, the Fed raised the Fed funds rate 25bps to the highest rate in 25 years. As for future hikes, the Fed has retained complete optionality. Chair Powell said they might raise rates at the…

Electric-vehicle sales were 3.2% of U.S. vehicle sales in 2021 and 5.8% of sales in 2022. In 2023 they will reach 7.5% of sales and in 2024 easily 12%. This is because total vehicle sales are flat. From 2000-2022, sales…

YTD, $1,000 invested in each of the 30 firms in the Dow Jones Industrial Average would now be worth $32,488, a gain of 8.29%. The firm with the best performance is Salesforce, with that original $1,000 now worth $1,720, followed…

The Friday File: At present, 65% of Americans tip servers at sit-down restaurants, down from 75% in 2021. Servers in sit-down establishments are the most frequently tipped persons. Home repairmen are the least tipped at 10%. Data shows that women…