wouldn't selling the USD bond pushes the CAD value up?
The Bank of Canada continues to cut rates while the US Federal Reserve holds. It wouldn’t be good for Canada if the Loonie continues to drop as they import much of their refined goods.
wouldn't selling the USD bond pushes the CAD value up?
Take low-income consumers: At an at the Economic Club of Chicago in late February, Chief Executive Doug McMillon said “budget-pressured” customers are showing stressed behaviors: They are buying smaller pack sizes at the end of the month because their “money runs out before the month is gone.” said in its most recent earnings call that the fast-food industry has had a “sluggish start” to the year, in part because of weak demand from low-income consumers. Across the U.S. fast-food industry, sales to low-income guests were down by a double-digit percentage in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier, according to McDonald’s.
Things don’t look much better on the higher end. American consumers’ spending on the luxury market, which includes high-end department stores and online platforms, fell 9.3% in February from a year earlier, worse than the 5.9% decline in January, according to Citi’s analysis of its credit-card transactions data.
Citi’s analysis of its U.S. credit-card data shows that spending has fallen across most retail categories. In the retail quarter to date, spending plunged 12% and 22% on apparel and athletic footwear, respectively, compared with a year earlier. But even less-discretionary categories such as food retail, aftermarket auto parts and pet retail are seeing moderate declines.
That what happens when you create a culture of participation trophies and everyone is special in schools and universities. TSMC would be better off hiring middle school dropouts, truckers, constructions and steel factory workers to run the fabs.
Part 30:American Dream!!!
-New data out Friday showed retail sales declined more than expected in the first month of 2025.
Headline retail sales fell 0.9% in January, more than the 0.2% decline economists had expected, according to Bloomberg data. This marked the largest month-over-month decline in retail sales since January 2024.
-60+ day auto loan delinquencies in the subprime cohort (less credit-worthy borrowers) hit 6.56% in December 2024—the highest ever recorded. That’s up from 6.01% in November 2024 and 6.27% in 2023.
-Contracts to buy previously owned homes fell to a record low in January as prospective buyers were constrained by higher mortgage rates and house prices.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said on Thursday that its Pending Home Sales Index, which is based on signed contracts, declined by 4.6% last month to 70.6, an all-time low.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast contracts, which became sales after a month or two, falling by 1.3% in January. Pending home sales were down 5.2% from a year ago.
-More home purchases are being canceled, especially in the southeastern part of the country. Just over 41,000 U.S. home-purchase agreements fell through in January, equal to 14.3% of homes that went under contract that month. That’s up from 13.4% a year earlier, and the highest cancellation rate for this time of year since at least 2017.
-The U.S., known for being a global agriculture powerhouse, has never imported so much food.
Inbound shipments of everything from avocados to coffee and sugar are expected to drive the country’s agriculture trade deficit to a record $49 billion this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its trade outlook report. At the same time, America’s most widely grown crops have been losing overseas markets over the past decades.
It’s a stark turnaround for a nation that once used its abundant food supplies as a tool of statecraft, with the U.S. now facing a future of persistent agricultural trade deficits.
-President Donald Trump’s efforts to pare down the federal government workforce left a mark on the labor market in February, with announced job cuts at their highest level in nearly five years, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported Thursday.
The firm reported that U.S. employers announced 172,017 layoffs for the month, up 245% from January and the highest monthly count since July 2020 during the heightened uncertainty from the Covid pandemic. In addition, it marked the highest total for the month of February since 2009 during the global financial crisis.
-The US trade deficit widened to a record in January as companies scrambled to secure goods from overseas before President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on America’s largest trading partners.
The gap in goods and services trade widened 34% from the previous month to $131.4 billion, Commerce Department data showed Thursday. The deficit was larger than all but one estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
-More Americans are raiding their retirement savings to cover emergency expenses, taking early withdrawals from their 401(k)s.
A record 4.8 percent of account holders took hardship withdrawals last year, up from 3.6 percent in 2023, according to Vanguard Group, which examined data from nearly 5 million people with 401(k)-type accounts.
-In January, the average price of a dozen eggs hit a record high of $4.95, up from $2.52 a year prior.
-U.S. retailers are expected to close more stores than they opened again this year, according to Coresight Research. Last year, 5,970 stores opened and 7,325 closed, a net loss of 1,355 as of Jan. 10.
In 2025, Coresight expects about 15,000 U.S. stores to shutter, as openings remain steady at about 5,800.
-Americans’ total credit card balances now stand at a record-high $1.21 trillion, the report said.
-Americans’ household debt — including credit cards, mortgages, auto loans and student loans — is at a new all-time high of $18.04 trillion, according to a report released Thursday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The percentage of Americans who are “raiding their retirement savings” has never been higher:
Buffet anticipating a real estate crash ? He's selling off his branch?We've learned that pending home sales in the United States have fallen to the lowest level ever measured...
Also Ray Dalio recently said he doesn't think its even a contest anymore, basically China won, and US headed for civil war etcBuffet anticipating a real estate crash ? He's selling off his branch?