Overall Personal Consumption Expenditures, the Fed’s favorite measure of consumer inflation, were +0.1% in April and +0.4% year-over-year through April. Excluding volatile oil and food costs from the readings, “Core” PCE price index for April was +0.3% and +1.9% YOY through April. The Fed looks closely at Core PCE excluding food and energy prices because
Consumer Spending
Overall Personal Consumption Expenditures, the Fed’s favorite measure of consumer inflation, were even in March and +0.6% year-over-year through March. Excluding volatile oil and food costs from the readings, “Core” PCE price index for March was +0.2% and +1.8% YOY through March. The Fed looks closely at Core PCE excluding food and energy prices because
Economic Outlook Unclear for 6-12 Months, Wells Mortgage Hires 5000, Supply Issues Weigh Bond Prices
Wells Fargo’s hiring. Or maybe the correct verb tense is “hired”. According to their CFO Wells recently hired about 5,000 people to handle the increased workload in their mortgage operation. The bank added people across the country in the past couple of months to process record mortgage applications. FOMC Says Economic Contraction Slowing The FOMC’s
Overall Personal Consumption Expenditures, the Fed’s favorite measure of consumer inflation, were +0.3% in February and +1.0% year-over-year through February. Excluding volatile oil and food costs from the readings, “Core” PCE price index for February was +0.2% and +1.8% YOY through February. The overall number showed a steep -2.2% fall in 4Q2008 (-0.6% Oct, -1.1%
Overall Personal Consumption Expenditures, the Fed’s favorite measure of consumer inflation, were +0.2% in January and +0.7% year-over-year through January. Excluding volatile oil and food costs from the readings, “Core” PCE price index for January was +0.1% and +1.6% YOY through January. The overall number showed a steep -2.2% fall in 4Q2008 (-0.6% Oct, -1.1%
Overall Personal Consumption Expenditures, the Fed’s favorite measure of consumer inflation, were -0.5% in in December and +0.6% year-over-year through December. Excluding volatile oil and food costs from the readings, “Core” PCE price index for December was 0% (making it 0% for all of 4Q2008) and +1.7% YOY through December. The steep -2.2% fall in
Overall Personal Consumption Expenditures, the Fed’s favorite measure of consumer inflation, were -1.1% in in November and +1.4% year-over-year through November. Excluding volatile oil and food costs from the readings, “Core” PCE price index for November was 0% (also 0% for October) and +1.9% YOY through November. The record 1.1% fall in November reflects not
October PCE -0.5% As Inflation Dies, Consumer Spending -1%, New Home Sales -5.3%, Median Price $218k
Overall Personal Consumption Expenditures, the Fed’s favorite measure of consumer inflation, were -0.5% in October and +3.2% year-over-year through October. Excluding volatile oil and food costs from the readings, “Core” PCE for October was unchanged and +2.0% YOY through October. Here’s a link to complete PCE numbers for 3Q2008. The Fed tends to look at
Since 2004, NYU Economics Professor and Chairman of RGE Monitor Nouriel Roubini has been pounding the drum on a severe recession caused by over-leveraging of consumers and financial institutions. Now that the fallout from over-leveraging has played out, more people are listening to him, and now he’s reiterating the recession projections. He recently published 20
I know that I’ve been in the mortgage banking business too long when my children start using the trendy mortgage-banker phrases. The other day I asked my daughter to clean up her room, and she replied, “Dad, let’s circle back on this tomorrow – I have other things to do. And then we can close
There were no WeeklyBasis reports the past couple weeks, because I have doing some longer-form writing about the markets for my company’s quarterly newsletter and for a real estate magazine. If you want to receive my newsletter, please let me know. And attached is a copy of a piece I wrote for the June issue
You may remember my discussion about the economic rough patch we hit as the third quarter began in July. Economic data started coming in weaker. Jobs growth stagnated. Consumer spending slowed, and GDP followed suit. At the same time, the Fed began a campaign to bring the cost of funds off historic lows by hiking
Rates and commentary below are as of November 10, 2003. Rates on 15yr and 30yr fixed loans are up about 0.2% from last Monday, but ARM rates are holding near their lows. No major economic news scheduled for release until this Friday, so the bond market and rates should be relatively calm until then. The