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February existing home sales rose 1.7% M-o-M to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million. But Y-o-Y sales fell for the third time in four months, not a sign of a recovering market. For some perspective, outside of the…
February non-farm payrolls sank by 92,000, December and January were collectively revised down by 69,000, and the unemployment rate troublingly rose to 4.4%, despite the labor force participation rate falling to 62%, the lowest since 12/21. Since May, employment growth…
The Friday File: President Trump’s most recent State of the Union address was the longest ever at 108 minutes, breaking the previous record of 100 minutes set last year by President Trump, while his 2025 SOTU broke the previous record…
The US CY25 trade deficit was $901.5 billion vs. $903.5 billion in CY2024, with imports rising 5% to $4.334 trillion and exports rising 6% to $3.432 trillion. As for tariffs, which were focused exclusively on goods, the goods trade deficit…
A recent report that went viral and tanked markets suggested investors and workers hurt by AI will reduce spending. OK. But for this to happen, large productivity gains must occur and that will reduce prices and raise real income in…
Since 4/2003, the Equal-Weighted S&P 500 Index, where each firm is roughly 1/500 of the index when each quarter starts, returned an annualized 11.65% average return, versus 11.34% for the S&P 500 Index. But investors invest in funds that track…
While the wage gap between the sexes has somewhat narrowed, a sizable gap endures. The top economist in the field, Nobelist Claudia Golden, suggests it’s all motherhood. A new and brilliant study looking at women with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser Syndrome confirms it.…
The Friday File: The recently concluded Olympics saw 29 nations win at least one medal across a record 116 events. Norway stole the show. It won 18 golds, breaking the 2022 record of 16 set by Norway, and it won…
In 25Q4, the aggregate delinquency rate across all debt types was 4.8%, up from 4.5% Q-o-Q. This is the ninth quarterly increase in the past 10 quarters. The rate bottomed out in 22Q4 at about 2.5%. More significantly, the rate…
In 2025, new home sales totaled 679,000, 1.1% below the 2024 figure, and in December sales were up just 3.8% Y-o-Y. As for housing starts, they totaled 1,358,700 in 2025, down 0.6% from 2024. December starts were down 7.3% Y-o-Y.…