December 6, 2022Just about one month ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for October and it was like a breath of fresh air. Really, the bad inflation news we have experienced since the beginning of this year was suffocating to say the least. And then we received a report […]
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November 15, 2022 We used to be glued to the jobs report. Every month the analysts made predictions and then analyzed where they got things wrong. Then there is the quarterly growth data (GDP). Together with the jobs report, the markets reacted until the next set of numbers were released. Now we have another focus, […]
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November 1, 2022 This will be another interesting week for the markets. The Fed starts their meeting as we publish this newsletter. All month long we have been subject to incendiary rhetoric from the members of the Fed indicating that they will not rest in their fight to subdue inflation. In other words, short-term rates […]
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October 18, 2022 All this focus on the jobs report, the Federal Reserve raising rates and other economic reports, sometimes has us putting blinders on. Then something happens that makes us realize that we are not alone in the world. Perhaps it is the pandemic or the war in Ukraine. The bottom line is that […]
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October 11, 2022 For months we have been predicting job growth would slow down. This prediction was not only predicated on the forecasts for the economy to slow down, but also because we have now recovered the jobs lost during the pandemic-reduced recession. From here on out, job growth will be a factor of the […]
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September 27, 2022 Well, the Federal Reserve raised short-term rates by 0.75%. This was not a surprise, as predictions for a 0.75% increase had been circulating for more than a month. And there were so many speeches and statements by Fed members delivering tough talk about how they were going to stay the course against […]
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September 13, 2022 Since we could not decide as to whether we are in a recession right now, many have adopted the term “housing recession” instead. While we are not sure what constitutes a housing recession, we really need to view today’s real estate market in terms of where the market is coming from. Certainly, […]
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August 30, 2022 Last week we pondered the employment situation. This week we get an early look at the August jobs picture because the release comes before Labor Day. Thus, this weekend coming up will be referred to as Labor Day weekend for more than one reason. While we are very curious as to whether […]
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August 23, 2022 July was a very important month with regard to the growth of jobs. Not only did the economy add a significant number of jobs – much more than expected – but also, we have now recovered all the jobs lost during the pandemic. The 3.5% unemployment rate is the level we were […]
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August 9, 2022 In a normal year, the real estate markets die down during what we call the “dog days of summer.” The issue is, we have not had anything akin to a normal year in quite a few years. Low interest rates, the pandemic and the ensuing real estate boom eliminated seasonality from the […]
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