What I'm Reading The Waiting Game: Buyers who signed contracts for new homes are now facing the risk that rising mortgage rates will make them unable to afford it by the time the home is completed. Wall Street Journal Open the Gates: More than four dozen former national security leaders...
May 16th – Running on Empty
What I'm Reading Running on Empty: Record low diesel inventories on the east coast of the US could lead to rationing with truck stop giants Love's and Pilot Flying J already warning truckers of an imminent shortage. Much of this is being driven by "insane" prices in Europe that are...
May 13th – Can’t Fix Stupid
What I'm Reading Can't Fix Stupid: California's Democratic State Senate Leader Toni Atkins is proposing to spend $10 billion to help families buy homes. The proposal would create a revolving fund that would provide interest-free loans for up to 30% of the purchase price of a home for low- and...
May 12th – Pushback
What I'm Reading Pushback: Consumers are doing less grocery shopping online as health concerns fade and consumers become more cost conscious thanks to inflation. Chain Store Age Offshored: The tech industry is warning that more remote jobs are headed out of the US thanks to worker shortages and a lack...
May 11th – Long in the Tooth
What I'm Reading Long in the Tooth: The average US warehouse is 42 years old and only 14% of warehouses are less than 10 years old. This is a big problem in an industry that is changing rapidly where older product tends to be functionally obsolete. Newer buildings typically have...
May 10th – Clearing the Deck
What I'm Reading Clear the Deck: Western ports are bracing for increased congestion when China eventually lifts stringent Covid-19 restrictions in major cities, which could come just as many importers start to load up for the back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons. The race is on to clear existing cargo and...
May 9th – Boomerang
What I'm Reading Boomerang: Millions of older Americans retired early during the pandemic, leaving the US in a severe labor imbalance. However, new data indicates that they are returning to the workforce in large numbers in recent months. Many retirees are being pulled back to jobs by a combination of...
May 6th – Mean Reversion
What I'm Reading Mean Reversion: Americans have returned to their pre-pandemic consumption habits with spending on gyms, concerts and recreational travel up substantially. At the same time, pandemic darlings like Peloton, Netflix and Instacart have underperformed. Wall Street Journal My take: a lot of this is mean reversion. Americans were...
May 5th – Anchors Aweigh
What I'm Reading Leading Indicator? Amazon's rapid expansion in both labor and capital capacity over the past couple of years turned out to be a leading indicator of inflation. The overbuilding and over hiring comments in its latest earnings report may be a good indicator that inflation is slowing. Bloomberg...
May 4th -Falling Behind
What I'm Reading Substitution Effect: Executives running some of the world’s biggest retailers, manufacturers and consumer-products makers say they are seeing signs that people are becoming less willing to absorb price increases. This includes an uptick in demand for discount products. Wall Street Journal Falling Behind: Debt funds, life insurance...