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The Friday File: Earlier this week, reliever Eric Chavez was traded, making it the 10th time he has changed uniforms in the major leagues, thus making him the most traded player in baseball history. Former pitcher Dick Littlefield is next…

While the anticipated Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 might do great things for the environment, healthcare, and the deficit, it’s unlikely to much help inflation, and any benefit is likely to be years out. It’s because the overall spending and…

At LVMH, the world’s largest luxury group, whose brands include Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, and others, reported a 28% Y-o-Y sales increase, and at Hermes, home of the $20,000 Birkin bag, sales are up 23% Y-o-Y. Conversely, McDonald’s is…

The Fed’s favorite inflation measure, the personal consumption expenditure index, increased 6.8% Y-o-Y in June, up from 6.3% Y-o-Y in May, and its highest reading since 1/82! Moreover, the employment-cost index, a measure of wages and benefits for civilian workers,…

After contracting at an annualized rate of 1.6% in 22Q1, GDP again shrank in 22Q2 by 0.9%. The reason; inventories reduced 22Q2 GDP by 2.01 points. Similarly, net exports boosted GDP by 1.43 points after reducing it by 3.23 points…

The Friday File: Batting average predicts 67% of the runs a team scores. On-base percentage, the frequency with which a player reaches base/at-bat, predicts 78%. On-base percentage plus slugging percentage (OPS), the sum of the on-base percentage and the average…

The big supermajor oil companies collectively produce about 15% of the world’s oil, with Exxon the biggest and producing almost four million bbl/day. Conversely, national oil companies produce almost 60% of the world’s crude, with Saudi Aramco at 12 million…

The pool of negative-yielding corporate and sovereign debt is down from a peak of $18.4 trillion on 12/11/20 to $2.4 trillion on 7/22/22, but up from $1.93 trillion on 6/17/22, a level first surpassed in 1/15 when the ECB and…

Investor home purchases peaked at 27.6% of sales in 22Q1, up from 24.8% in 21Q4 and 19.2% in 21Q1, the first quarter of elevated investor purchases. In 2019, investor purchases averaged 16%/quarter. Numerically, investor purchases rose from 200,000/quarter in 2019,…

June single-family housing starts fell 8.1% M-o-M and 15.7% Y-o-Y, while single-family permits declined 8% M-o-M and 11.4% Y-o-Y as they return to pre-covid levels. Conversely, multifamily starts are up 10.3% M-o-M and 15.6% Y-o-Y, while multifamily permits are up…