April 22, 2025 The initial reaction to the tariff wars has been a major retrenchment in the stock markets and extreme volatility for bonds as well. With many analysts using the word recession repeatedly, an important question has arisen — should the Federal Reserve step in and implement an “emergency” rate cut.” We say “emergency” […]
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February 25, 2025 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created by the Dodd-Frank Act in the wake of the financial crisis which spawned the Great Recession of 2008. Unlike the pandemic-induced recession of 2020, the recovery of the economy from the Great Recession was long and painful, especially within the real estate industry which is […]
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January 28, 2025 So, we added over two million jobs last year. That is good news, right? As we have been saying for a few years now, good economic news has now become bad news. How did more jobs for Americans become a bad thing? When the unemployment rate is low, consumers have more money […]
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January 7, 2025 A lot of interest rate watchers were very confused late last year. As was expected, in their last meeting of the year, the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee lowered rates for the third time in 2024. But interest rates such as mortgages reacted instantly by increasing. How can that be? Doesn’t the […]
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December 3, 2024 We have had so many months of jobs gains that the monthly employment report has held little intrigue lately. As a matter of fact, the ancillary numbers such as wage inflation have garnered more attention than the number of jobs gained in some circles. For at least one month, this is no […]
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November 26, 2024 The initial response to the President-elect’s victory was a huge Wall Street rally. Despite the fact that there were already significant gains in 2024, stock market indices reached new heights immediately after the election. The bond market? Not so much of a rally, despite the fact that the Federal Reserve lowered their […]
Read More November 19, 2024 The election is over. The Federal Reserve has met and made their decision regarding short-term interest rates. The next question is – where do we go from here? While the Fed has lowered their rates, mortgage rates actually increased leading up to the election and the meeting of the Fed. And this […]
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November 12, 2024 A lot has happened in the past few weeks. First, we had a slew of data showing that the economy is still on solid footing. The advanced estimate of economic growth (GDP) for the third quarter came in at 2.8% — a solid, but unspectacular number. The October jobs report was obviously […]
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November 5, 2024 Today is the day we elect the next President of the United States – along with many Senators and a complete slate within the House of Representatives. Whatever side you are on, it is important that you go out and vote, though nowadays many Americans have voted early. A recent Gallup pole […]
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