‘The U.S. housing market is crumbling under the weight of higher mortgage rates and rock-bottom affordability’: Prices fell the most in these U.S. states
Americans are finding it hard to afford homes at mortgage levels now beyond 7%, according to some measures. Home prices have begun to reflect that. As mortgage rates rose in the last quarter of 2022, Americans found the cost of homeownership increasingly challenging, adding hundreds of dollars in interest to their potential monthly mortgage payment. […]
Bitcoin Price Falls. There’s Trouble at Silvergate.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were falling Thursday, under pressure but holding key levels amid signs of distress at Silvergate Capital an influential banker to the digital asset industry. The price of Bitcoin has declined nearly 2% over the past 24 hours to $23,275. The largest crypto has consolidated between $23,000 and $24,000 in recent weeks, […]
Russia Turns to China’s Yuan in Effort to Ditch the Dollar: WSJ
Russia’s economy, restricted from Western financial networks and the U.S. dollar, has embraced a burgeoning alternative: the Chinese yuan. Energy exporters are increasingly getting paid in yuan. Russia’s sovereign-wealth fund, a war chest to support government spending burdened by battlefield costs in Ukraine, is using the Chinese currency to store its oil riches. Source link
S.O.S for the U.S. Electric Grid: WSJ
PJM Interconnection sounds the latest alarm that fossil-fuel plants are shutting down without adequate replacement power. The political class yawns. Source link
Opinion: The stock market’s rally was a head fake and the smart money now is with the bears
The stock market, as measured by the S&P 500 Index SPX, +0.53%, has fallen below the 4100 level. That is significant because there previously was triple resistance at that level, and when SPX broke out above that level in late January, it seemed as if the next leg of the “new” bull market was underway. […]
Opinion: No ‘soft landing’ is in the cards from Fed rate hikes. Look for recession and a buying opportunity once stock prices decline.
Is the bear market of 2022 over? Are we already in the early innings of the next great bull market? The S&P 500 SPX, -0.16% finished 2022 with a 19% decline (its biggest pullback since 2008). Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.26% lost 8.8% and the Nasdaq COMP, +0.13% tumbled 33%. It’s been […]
Opinion: Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren’s bold tax hike to shore up Social Security
Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders want to shore up Social Security by raising the top rate of income tax by a third, and the top rate of capital-gains tax by more than a half. The Democratic senators have made the proposals in a new bill that would balance Social Security’s books, and expand benefits. It […]
Office Landlord Defaults Are Escalating as Lenders Brace for More Distress
Real EstateProperty ReportDelinquency rate for office loans that back commercial-mortgage-backed securities remains low, but it is heading higher Source link
California’s Budget Deficit Blows Up
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget last month projected a $22.5 billion deficit, but apparently his forecast was too sunny. The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) warned last week that the state’s budget hole may be a lot bigger owing to plunging revenue. Look out below. Source link
More Auto Payments Are Late, Exposing Cracks in Consumer Credit
MarketsFinanceBorrowers with low credit scores fall behind in numbers unseen since 2010 Source link