Debt Outstanding
January 25, 2020 The Congressional Budget Office recently reported that the budget deficit for the current fiscal year is likely to be $1.0 trillion. A deficit of that magnitude will push debt held by the public to 80.7% of GDP. For the first seven years of the...
Budget Deficit
January 25, 2020 The Congressional Budget Office reported that the budget deficit for fiscal year 2019 came in at $984 billion. For the current fiscal year (FY 2020) the budget deficit is projected to be $1.0 trillion. It will remain above the $1.0 trillion...
Home Sales Rebounding – Can It Last?
January 24, 2019 Existing home sales continued to climb in December to 5,540 thousand which is 10.8% higher than they were in December a year ago. Rising consumer income and low mortgage rates are bringing potential buyers back into the market. That is good. ...
Initial Unemployment Claims
January 23, 2020 Initial unemployment claims rose 6 thousand in the week ending January 81 to 211 thousand. The four-week average of claims declined 4 thousand to 213 thousand. The 4-week average for the week of April 13 of 202 thousand was the lowest for the...
Consumer Debt Service Ratio
January 20, 2020 Consumers debt service payments relative to income was unchanged in the third quarter at 9.7% which is the lowest on record for a series that stretches back to 1980 -- 38 years ago! The household debt service ratio is an estimate of the ratio of...
Existing Home Sales
January 22, 2020 Existing home sales jumped 3.6% in December to 5,540 thousand after having fallen 1.7% in November. Sales currently are 10.8% higher than where they were at this time last year. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist said that “Home sellers are...
Commercial and Industrial Loans
January 20, 2020 Commercial and industrial loans, which are more commonly called "business loans" declined 4.7% in December which is the third decline in the past four months (the light green bars on the left scale). The year-over-year growth rate has expanded...
Mortgage Loans
January 20, 2020 Real estate loans rose at a 3.9% pace in December after having risen 5.5% in November (the light blue bars). Over the course of the past year mortgage lending has risen 4.0% (the dark blue line). Total loan growth in the past year has been...
Consumer Loans
January 21, 2020 Consumer loans rose 6.4% in December after having risen 3.8% in November (the purple bars). Over the course of the past year consumer loans have climbed by 6.0% (in red). Led by a pickup in both consumer and mortgage ending activity, total loan...
Technology Has Changed Everything!
January 17, 2020 GDP continues to expand at a more rapid rate than most economists expected. Inflation remains at a surprisingly subdued rate. The Fed plans to hold rates steady for the foreseeable future. The stock market has reached a series of record high...
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