Housing’s Worst Year in Nearly 30 Years It is not much of a stretch to say that home sales are in the basement. In 2024, the annual number of existing homes sold fell slightly to 4.06 million, the lowest since 1995. It’s important to note that 2024 came in lower than...

Despair to Jubilation and Beyond It’s prudent to cautiously eye rapid changes in market sentiment caused by short-term traders. A week ago, our summary focused on a strong jobs report, rising bond yields, and general concerns about inflation. There was a sense of...

A Wall Street vs Main Street Jobs Report On Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that nonfarm payrolls grew by 256,000 in December, easily surpassing analyst expectations of a more modest increase of 155,000 (Wall Street Journal). The unemployment rate...

Best Two Years in a Quarter-Century In late 2022, a new bull market emerged from the ashes of a nine-month bear market, leading to 2023’s impressive rise of over 26% for the closely followed S&P 500 Index, according to S&P Global (including dividends...

Sticky Inflation The monthly numbers are out, and while the rate of inflation is well off the 2022 peak, price hikes remain uncomfortably high. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the core CPI, which excludes food and...

Job Growth and Economic Growth On Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that nonfarm payrolls rose by 227,000 in November, which came in just above the consensus forecast of 214,000 (CNBC). The unemployment rate, measured by a different BLS...