The Economist (June 7)
“Without fanfare, something remarkable has happened.” There’s been a “stunning decline of the preference for having boys.” More parents are saying “Phew, it’s a girl!” In 2000, “a staggering 1.6m girls were missing from the number you would expect, given the natural sex ratio at birth. This year that number is likely to be 200,000—and it is still falling.”
Tags: 2000, 2025, Birth, Boys, Falling, Girls, Natural, Parents, Preference, Remarkable, Sex ratio, Stunning decline
Fortune (June 1)
“Home-sale prices in 11 of the 50 biggest U.S. metro areas are already falling, according to data from Redfin, which sees the nationwide median sale price declining 1% on an annual basis in the fourth quarter of this year. That’s as listings grow and mortgage rates remain high, while sellers outnumber buyers by record amounts.”
Tags: Buyers, Declining. Q4, Falling, High, Home, Listings, Metro areas, Mortgage rates, Nationwide, Redfin, Sale price, Sellers, U.S.
The Economist (April 19)
The dollar is meant to be a source of safety. Lately, however, it has been a cause of fear. Since its peak in mid-January the greenback has fallen by over 9% against a basket of major currencies.” Meanwhile, the yield on Treasuries has been rising. “That mix of rising yields and a falling currency is a warning sign: if investors are fleeing even though returns are up, it must be because they think America has become more risky,” which explains the rumors that “big foreign asset managers are dumping greenbacks.”
Tags: Asset managers, Basket, Dollar, Dumping, Falling, Fear, Fleeing, Greenbacks, Investors, Major currencies, Peak, Returns, Risky, Safety, Treasuries, Warning sign, Yields
Forbes (March 15)
“As the Bank of Japan mulls its biggest policy pivot in roughly 25 years, no major economy may benefit more than China,” helping to counter the headwinds zooming China’s way.” Hoping to supplant the dollar as the global currency, China is hesitant to devalue its own currency. Yet, “for China, falling prices will just further undermine business and household confidence. It’s here where a rising yen could counter the headwinds zooming China’s way. And make China the real winner as the BOJ calls it quits on QE next week.”
Tags: BOJ, Business, China, Confidence, Devalue, Dollar, Falling, Global currency, Headwinds, Household, Major economy, Policy pivot, Prices, Rising yen, Undermine
Financial Times (July 29)
“Inflation is falling for a number of reasons “beyond the Fed’s control,” like an easing of the worst impacts from “the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.” But the Fed’s rate hikes have effectively “reduced demand for credit.” The results can be seen in mortgage debt and car loans. “Overall, growth in non-revolving credit—the loans you take out just once, like a mortgage—is now just below zero.” There’s one snag on the revolving credit side, where credit growth is still “coming from credit cards.”
Tags: Car loans, Credit, Credit cards, Demand, Falling, Fed, Inflation, Mortgage debt, Non-revolving, Pandemic, Rate hikes, Revolving, Ukraine, War
The Economist (October 22)
“House prices are now falling in nine rich economies…. In condo-crazed Canada homes cost 9% less than they did in February. As inflation and recession stalk the world a deepening correction is likely.” Falling home prices are unlikely to lead to a global banking crisis, but “it will intensify the downturn, leave a cohort of people with wrecked finances and start a political storm.”
Tags: Banking, Canada, Condo, Correction, Crisis, Deepening, Downturn, Falling, Finances, House prices, Inflation, Intensify, Political storm, Recession, Rich economies, Wrecked
The Economist (May 28)
Signs suggest “America’s markets are entering a new, more worrying phase.” Falling share prices could initially be attributed to the Federal Reserve’s policy moves, but “in recent weeks share prices have kept falling, even as bond yields have dropped back,” a combination suggesting recession. “Indeed, the mix of Fed tightening, slowing gdp and rising production costs has the ominous feel of the later stages of a business cycle. The expansion is barely two years old. Yet investors are already worried that corporate profits are under threat.”
Tags: Bond yields, Business cycle, Expansion, Falling, Fed, GDP, Investors, Markets, Ominous, Production costs, Profits, Recession, Share prices, Signs, Tightening, U.S., Worried, Worrying
Bloomberg (March 8)
“When it’s just the yield curve narrowing, or oil jumping, or stocks falling into a correction, maybe you can hold off on panicking over a recession. When all three happen at once, the argument gets stronger that it’s time to take the threat seriously.”
Tags: Argument, Correction, Falling, Jumping, Narrowing, Oil, Panicking, Recession, Serious, Stocks, Stronger, Threat, Yield curve
Reuters (December 28)
“Vulture funds will need to stretch their wings. Corporate defaults are falling, despite the surprising endurance of the pandemic. Investors that specialise in buying distressed debt like Oaktree will have to look beyond the mainstay of public debt markets.”
Tags: Corporate defaults, Distressed debt, Falling, Investors, Markets, Oaktree, Pandemic, Vulture funds
USA Today (June 17)
“Falling rate of COVID-19 across the United States mask a harsh reality—the overwhelming majority of those getting sick and being hospitalized today are unvaccinated, while vaccinated people are becoming rare.” The sickest patients are also more likely to be younger “as older people are much more likely to be vaccinated.”
Tags: COVID-19, Falling, Hospitalized, Patients, Rate, Sickest, U.S., Unvaccinated, Vaccinated, Younger
