June 9, 2026 We have been publishing this column for over 30 years. Yes, it is hard to fathom so many decades of economic analysis. Throughout this time, we have always pointed to the monthly employment report as the bellwether of economic indicators. And it is hard to argue against this line of reasoning. After […]
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May 12, 2026 For those of you who are technology buffs, the task of parsing data is a familiar process. For us laymen, it is a bunch of gobbledygook. This, we would like to introduce parsing for those who technology adverse. In this case we are taking data provided by the government and trying to […]
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May 5, 2026 Usually, the jobs data does not resemble a roller coaster. But for the first quarter of the year, that is exactly what we have experienced. In January, the economy added 160,000 jobs, which was not bad. In February the economy shed 133,000 jobs, which is very bad. In March, the economy added […]
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January 20, 2026 The jobs picture has changed dramatically within the last year. The picture has not been so clear throughout the year, especially because of the major disruption due to the government shutdown which delayed and brought employment data into question for the latter portion of the year. In addition, we went through the […]
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December 30, 2025 The Federal Reserve lowered their benchmark interest rates three times to close out 2025. While this was good news for the real estate markets, the path to lower rates has not been as clear as many would have hoped in light of the Fed activity. The disconnect has occurred despite major pressure […]
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December 23, 2025 ‘Tis the season to be jolly. And certainly, the retail industry is hoping that the consumer is feeling quite jolly as the holiday season and the year come to a close. It is estimated that close to 20% of all retail sales happen during this time and anything short of that would […]
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December 9, 2025 For the past several weeks we have been touting the fact that the Federal Reserve will have an avalanche of data to consider when they meet in December. Well, the December meeting starts today and certainly there is a whole bunch of data to consider. However, the most important data indicating the […]
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December 2, 2025 The government shutdown caused a major back-up of government data, and we are in the midst of seeing the spigot of data being released. This is very timely because the Federal Reserve is scheduled to meet one week from today and, unlike their last meeting, they are likely to have some, but […]
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November 25, 2025 It certainly has been a very tumultuous year for the real estate sector. And as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, it makes sense for us all to take a breather and give thanks for the good things in our lives. The first thing we would like to give thanks for is the […]
Read More October 27, 2025 The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee meets today and tomorrow, and a major topic of discussion will be the economy and whether to lower interest rates. As we discussed this week, the Fed is meeting with a substantial lack of data due to the government shutdown. There are a few reports still […]
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