Barron’s (December 30)
“Home prices rose more quickly than expected in October, according to S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Home Price Index data released today. But the bigger picture shows that housing costs continue to improve, with forecasters expecting a pickup in sales in 2026.”
Tags: 2026, Forecasters, Home prices, Housing costs, Improve, Index, October, Pickup, Rose, S&P Cotality Case-Shiller
Reuters (November 16)
“China’s factory output and retail sales grew at their weakest pace in over a year in October, piling pressure on policymakers to revamp the $19 trillion export-driven economy as mounting supply and demand strains threaten to further curtail growth.” Officials may be running out of options to keep “the world’s second-largest economy humming…. even an economy of China’s size can only squeeze so much growth from building more industrial parks, power substations and dams.”
Tags: China, Dams, Demand, Economy, Export-driven, Factory output, Industrial parks, October, Officials, Policymakers, Retail sales, Substations, Supply, Weakest
SF Gate (November 6)
“America’s tech industry continues to lead in a grim metric.” Challenger, Gray & Christmas released a report that “tracked layoff announcements from companies” and “in 2025, the tech industry had the highest recorded number of layoffs for the month of October: 33,281 compared with 5,639 in September.” But the report found layoffs are hardly restricted to the tech industry. “Total year-to-date job cuts in the U.S. are at their highest level since the pandemic struck in 2020” while “layoffs for the month of October” were the highest recorded since 2003.
Tags: 2003, 2020, 2025, Grim metric, Highest, Job cuts, Layoffs, October, Pandemic, Tech industry, U.S.
The Independent (November 21)
“The latest public sector borrowing figures are enough to have anyone inside 11 Downing Street heading for the drinks cabinet. The total came to £17.4bn in October; that’s £1.6bn more than this time last year, £5bn higher than City forecasts, and…. worryingly close to the £18.2bn recorded in October 2020, during the height of the pandemic.” All of this suggests “more tax rises could be on the way.”
Tags: £17.4bn, 2020, Borrowing, Downing Street, October, Pandemic, Public sector, Tax rises
South China Morning Post (November 7)
“China’s export growth hit a 27-month high in October, as exporters rushed to front-load orders in anticipation of potential heavy tariffs to be imposed by president-elect Donald Trump after his return to the White House…. Exports rose by 12.7 per cent year on year to US$309 billion in October, according to customs data released on Thursday.”
Tags: Anticipation, China, Customs data, Export growth, Exporters, Exports, Front-load orders, Heavy tariffs, October, Trump, White House
Washington Post (October 2)
“The United States just witnessed its most extreme October heat.” On Tuesday, temperatures hit 117 degrees (47 °C) in Palm Springs, tying the October record for North America. “More than 200 warm weather records were set on Tuesday alone in the western United States on the heels of around 2,500 records set in the final third of September between the Southwest and Upper Midwest.”
Tags: 47 °C, Extreme, Heat, North America, October, Palm Springs, Record, September, Southwest, Temperatures, U.S., Upper Midwest, Weather
Barron’s (September 4)
“Oil prices fell below $70 a barrel on Wednesday despite reports that OPEC+ nations are considering delaying a planned oil output hike in October.” One of the main drivers was ”weakening demand from China.” Other factors included the situation in Libya and “fears about a weakening U.S. economy.”
Tags: 70, Barrel, China, Delay, Fears, Libya, October, Oil prices, OPEC, Output hike, U.S., Weakening, Weakening demand
New York Times (December 14)
“The markets have been climbing since July — and have been positively buoyant since late October — on the assumption that truly good times are in the offing. That may turn out to be a correct assumption,” but the Fed “went out of its way to say that it is positioning itself for maximum flexibility. Prudent investors may want to do the same.”
Tags: Assumption, Buoyant, Climbing, Fed, Flexibility, July, Markets, October, Prudent
Wall Street Journal (November 20)
“America’s spendthrift relationship with electric vehicles has lost some spark. It will take new generations of products to rekindle the romance on tighter budgets…. Whether or not adoption of EVs in the U.S. is actually stalling—the jury is out—it is clearly weaker than manufacturers were anticipating.” Average prices of EVs fell to “about $52,000 in October, down from around $65,000 a year ago” with U.S. sales levelling out at “around the 100,000-a-month mark.”
Tags: $52, 000, 65%, EVs, https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/are-americans-falling-out-of-love-with-evs-2c7e6a1a?page=1 U.S., Manufacturers, October, Sales, Spendthrift, Stalling, Tighter budgets, U.S.
CNN (November 15)
Since peaking above 10% in January, “UK inflation plunged to its lowest level in two years in October, allowing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to declare victory on his pledge to halve the rate of price increases this year.” However, “Sunak’s second pledge to voters — to get the economy growing — is looking increasingly out of reach.” During the three month’s ended in September, GDP managed “zero growth… compared with the previous quarter, when it grew by a measly 0.2%.”
Tags: 10%, Economy, Inflation, January, Lowest level, October, Peaking, Pledge, Plunged, Price increases, Sunak, UK
